Filling the Space Between Us
by populette
Summary: They were married, yes, in love maybe, but they were two different people, he was never physically there and she was hardly ever emotionally there. Can they fix it before it's too late?
1. The Blues

Mimi woke up to a cold and lonely bed, though this wasn't uncommon, since her husband of four years moved out three months ago. What went wrong? Even she wasn't sure, though she knew it was coming. He had been really distant, spending even more time at the office, she didn't help, her mind was never there, always focusing on some new design or party plan. After countless arguments and loud fights Matt decided it was best for him to move to their beach house, to give them some space to clear both their heads.

Wiping away the tears freshly formed in her eyes, Mimi got up. She needed to get the kids ready for bed and drop her youngest off at the daycare.

"Rory, honey it's time for school" Mimi said softly, running her fingers through her oldest daughter's bright blonde hair.

"Rory, sweetie school" Mimi said a bit louder as her daughter began to stir. A second later a pair of big blue eyes were looking up at her.

"Mom" The 7 year old said groggily.

"Baby, I still have to wake your brother up come on please" Mimi said, kissing her forehead.

"Okay, and is Daddy going to pick us up today?" Rory asked.

"I'll call him, I'm sure he'd love to" Mimi smiled, moving off the bed so her daughter could get up. Her tiny pink nightgown ruffling as she got up.

"Brush your teeth and wash your face, I laid out your clothes" Mimi called before leaving.

Mimi walked down the hall to her only son's bedroom. Like his father and uncle, her five year old Michael was already a big fan of basketball, NBA paraphernalia adorned his walls, he had a large poster of his favorite player on his wall and a 5 foot play hoop against the wall, Matt's idea.

"Mike baby, school time" Mimi said, softly nudging him awake.

"Mama" He whined sleepily, pulling his, you guessed it, basketball covers over his head.

"Fine but that means that you'll have to go to work with Mommy and your sisters get to go with Daddy for ice-cream" Mimi said knowing this would get his attention.

"Daddy?" He asked.

"Yeap, he's gonna pick you up from school today" Mimi smiled, she should've seriously cleared this with Matt first, if he can't her kids will be crushed.

"Fine, is Taylor going to be in school today?" Mikey asked.

"Yes she is" Mimi smiled.

Taylor was Sora and Tai's youngest daughter (they had a 6 year old named Samantha as well), she was exactly one month older then Mike and they grew up together, the two of them were best friends. Mikey just started kindergarten about two months ago however he was already a ladies man like his father. Though he didn't look much like Matt, Mikey had deep green eyes and Mimi's dark hair, his personality was a mix between the two.

"Call mommy, when you're ready to get changed okay?" Mimi smiled, kissing his cheek as he jumped out of his bed in his feety pajamas.

"Okay" he nodded, running out of the room.

Finally Mimi went to check on her youngest, her 1 ½ year old daughter Sophia Michelle. Sophie was probably the cutest yet moody toddler you could imagine. She had Matt's light blonde hair, like her sister but Mimi's hazel eyes. A lot of her personality was like Mimi's; she liked to get what she wanted and knew how to do it.

Kissing her daughter's forehead, Mimi decided that she would let her sleep today, and change her before they got to the daycare. She walked out quietly, before going into her room, to change her clothes.

"Mom" Mikey called from his room.

"Coming!" Mimi said, barely pulling on a pair of dark denim skinny jeans before running out.

"I need help mommy" Mikey's muffled reply came, from inside a shirt that seemed to be winning a battle between the two, his head was caught in the sleeve hole while his arm was poking out of the head hole.

"Come here" Mimi giggled, pulling the shirt off him.

"You sure you wanna wear this and not what mommy picked for you?" Mimi asked, looking at the Spiderman shirt her son insisted on wearing.

"Yes" he nodded vigorously.

"How about this one instead?" Mimi tried, picking up the light blue button up she had chosen.

"No" He said shaking his head.

"Come on baby" Mimi persisted.

"Mommy" he whined.

"Alright tomorrow Spiderman shirt, today mommy shirt" Mimi bargained.

"Okay" Mikey sighed.

"Alright, hands up" Mimi said, putting the shirt on him.

"Rory, honey, you ready?" Mimi called as she helped Mikey put on his jeans.

"Yes Mom" Rory called back.

"Alright sweets you wanna come in here please?" Mimi asked.

"Yea mom?" Rory asked a second later appearing in the doorway.

"Help your brother put on his shoes please" Mimi requested, getting off the floor.

"Sure" Rory smiled, hugging her mother.

"Mmm I love you girlie" Mimi said, kissing her forehead.

"And me?" Mikey asked jealously.

"Of course handsome" Mimi said, laughing slightly before kissing his cheek.

"I want both of you downstairs in like 5 minutes okay?" Mimi said, walking back to her room.

She looked up at the clock, it read 7:51, she was on a pretty tight schedule the kids had to be at school by 8:25 and she had to have Sophie at the day care's by 8: 40 to hopefully make it to work by 9.

Mimi quickly pulled out a light pink tank top and a V-neck Armani Sweater to go over it, pulling out a pair of clear Gucci heels Mimi turned to her full length mirror before leaving her room.

"I don't even have time to do my make up" Mimi sighed, running into the kitchen.

"Rory! Mikey!" Mimi yelled.

"Coming mom" The two called in unison, running down the steps.

"Table kids, and I need to know what you two want for breakfast" Mimi told them, turning on the lights to the dining area.

"Pop tarts!"

"Cereal!"

"Alright Mikey, what kind of cereal? And Rory do you want Hot Fudge Sundae or Cookie Dough?" Mimi asked the two their preferences.

"I want Fruit Loops" Mikey said enthusiastically, turning on the 50' inch flat screen T.V.

"Umm cookie dough" Rory said, taking the remote from Mike and changing the channel to Hannah Montana.

"Mom! Rory's watching girlie shows!" Mikey whined.

"Rory please put on something the two of you can watch" Mimi said exasperatedly.

"Ha-ha so put on Transformers" Mikey grinned, sticking his tongue out at Rory.

"No way, the best you're getting is Fairly Odd Parents" Rory said, keeping the remote out of his reach.

"Fine, I like Timmy Turner" Mikey shrugged.

"Here guys, eat quick we gotta go" Mimi said, placing the bowl of cereal in front of Mikey and the pop tarts in front of Rory.

"Mommy-

The doorbell, however, interrupted what Rory was about to say.

"I'll be right back, stay here" Mimi said, wondering who could possibly be at the door at this time.

"Who is it?" She asked through the intercom.

"Me" A familiar voice responded.

"What are you doing here?" Mimi asked, opening the door.

"I thought I'd help out by taking the kids to school" Matt said, coming inside.

"Why?" Mimi asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Mimi you act as though I never do anything-

"I don't want to fight, now sure you wanna take them today that's fine, I appreciate it, Mikey and Rory are eating" Mimi said civilly, walking past him.

Matt sighed in contempt before walking into the dining area; Mimi so carefully decorated so many years ago.

"Daddy!" Rory was the first to notice his presence.

"Hey princess" Matt grinned, hugging his oldest daughter.

"Dad!" Mikey exclaimed, latching onto his father's leg.

"Hey there little man, what's goin on" Matt laughed, taking him into his arms.

"Dad, mom told me and Rory you were gonna pick us up! Are you gonna take us to get ice cream too?" Mikey asked brightly.

"Uh sure" Matt responded carefully, he had no idea he was supposed to pick them up however he was more than willing to do it.

"Daddy, are you going to take us to school?" Rory asked hopefully.

"Sure am pretty girl" Matt smiled, setting the Mikey back down on his chair so they could finish their breakfast.

"Hey Matt, come up here a second!" He heard Mimi call from upstairs.

"Coming" He called back, glancing at his kids before walking up the steps.

Walking up the stairs he paused, taking a look at the giant family portrait hanging on the wall. It was made a year ago when Sophie was just 6 months old, it showed Mimi sitting in a velvet arm chair, a tiny baby Sophie in her arms, Matt had Mikey in his standing over Mimi, with Rory right next her. All of them, except maybe Sophie, had big genuine smiles on their faces, something Matt hadn't seen in a while.

"I've been debating whether to take that down or not" Mimi said softly, leaning against the railing.

"Why?" Matt asked, looking up at her.

"Because, it's a lie" Mimi said, turning away from him.

Matt stood there a second, before heading up the stairs he took a one last withering look at the picture, before putting his head down for a second.

"You needed something?" Matt asked, leaning in the door frame of his youngest daughter, Sophia Michelle's, room.

"Yea, are you taking the kids to school?" Mimi asked, taking Sophie into her arms.

"Yes, why?" Matt asked.

"Just wondering, oh so you might wanna leave like now, its 8:10" Mimi said nonchalantly.

"Crap" Matt muttered.

"Wait don't you want me to take Sophie?" Matt asked from the top of the stairs.

"No, I can drop her off on my way to work" Mimi called.

"Okay" Matt said.

"And Matt?" Mimi said.

"Yea?" He asked.

"Can you take-

"The kids today? Yea I can kinda wish you would've informed me, but I'm more than happy" Matt interrupted.

"Thanks it's just I promised Mikey and he really wanted to see you so I mean-

"No trust me I missed them, this separation thing it has to be hard for them" Matt sighed.

"We need to talk Matt, I know, you think you'd be willing?" Mimi asked softly.

"Um yea sure, whatever you want" Matt said, going down the steps.

"Daddy?" Sophie asked groggily.

"Yea, Daddy" Mimi said distractedly, dressing her toddler.

Once Mimi got downstairs she realized that Rory and Mikey were already off to school, she wished the two would've said goodbye but it's okay.

"Daddy!" The toddler demanded crankily.

"Daddy's at work" Mimi said, not fully sure she understood.

"Daddy!" She said again with more force, clutching the teddy bear she never went anywhere without, close.

"Daddy left Soph, come on" Mimi sighed, grabbing Sophie's jacket and Fendi baby bag.

"Mama, Rory?" She asked in broken sentences.

"Rory and Mikey are in school baby" Mimi smiled, taking Sophie in her arms.

"Don't you wanna see T. J?" Mimi asked her daughter, T.J or Takeru Junior, was Kari and Tk's two year old son, he went to the same day care as Sophie, the two were always together and became best friends. T.J was the spitting image of T.K with the exception that he had Kari's eyes.

"Yes, yes!" Sophie said energetically.

"So then?" Mimi said, locking the door behind her.

Mimi turned on the radio, before starting the car, Newscaster Nancy Brooks voice came on.

_So I just got the latest and it seems that our beloved couple, business mogul __26 year old __Matt Ishida and his wife __Victoria's Secret model__25 year old __Mimi Ishida are separated, whether or not a divorce is impending I have no idea but I'm sure there's a good chance, I can only say this, I feel bad for the children, 7 year old Lorelle Jaiden, 5 year old Michael Anthony and their youngest daughter Sophia Michelle, I'm sure it'__s going to be hard on them, hopefully-_

Mimi sighed, changing the radio it's not that this came as a shock to her. Matt being the big business man that he is, I mean he's the CEO of the biggest inter-relations company in the United States and of course she was the face for Victoria's Secret since 17, her net worth being almost 2.5 million dollars, his being 5 million. They wanted so badly to shield their children from the media but had no luck doing so yet.

"Baby, you up?" Mimi asked, pulling into the private Day Care center.

"Sophie" Mimi called.

"No" She said, that was her favorite word right now, she might not really know what it means but Sophie loved using it.

"Soph, come on" Mimi said, getting out of the car.

"Beary!" Sophie cried, jumping back into the car and grabbed her brown teddy bear that had her name in small pink diamonds in the middle.

"Okay okay" Mimi smiled, putting the bag over her shoulder and taking her daughter into her arms.

Walking into the Day Care, Mimi stopped in front of the desk labeled check in.

"Hello" The attendant replied.

"Is Nancy not here today?" Mimi asked, looking for the regular secretary.

"Oh no, she's sick I think" The lady replied.

"Well I'm Mimi Ishida-

"I knew you looked familiar!" She said in surprise.

"Yes, um can I check in my daughter, Sophia Michelle" Mimi said, a little irritated.

"Oh sure okay" She smiled.

"Okay baby, be good girl" Mimi said, kissing Sophie's forehead, before sending her in.

"Bye Mommy" She waived.

Mimi drove to work in silence, taking this time to think about what had gone wrong between the two of them. Had it been the media presence? No because When Rory was born, Matt and her bought the house in a pretty media-less, paparazzi free neighborhood, where her children could grow up like normal kids instead of always being thrust in the lime light. Had it been his work? Not really, he only started working excessively when things got bad. Had it been their lack of communication? Maybe, but for the most part they communicated fine, things started going downhill a couple of months after Sophie was born, she however was in no way the cause of their problems, she was well actually the three of them were maybe the only things keeping the relationship together. So if hadn't been any of those things, what went wrong? She needed answers and racking her brain to get them wasn't the way to get them, the two of them needed to talk and soon, before it was too late.

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A/N: So how was it? First chapter…it's gonna get more interesting trust me; this was just more like an introduction, Reviews Please!!! Also if it's too confusing tell me, I always like constructive criticism, there will be flashbacks though so it will get clearer. REVIEW!!!!!!!


	2. What happened to us?

Mimi walked into the agency, greeting her various models, now that Mimi wasn't so much a runway model anymore, she took a liking to fashion, dressing young models as they strut down the runway. You could say she was somewhat retired, although still an honorary Victoria's Secret Angel, shooting commercials and her face on posters, however she wasn't on the runway nor on in photo shoots. Mimi preferred it this way, she had her kids and her being a model wasn't so much her priority anymore, she liked being behind the scenes and for the most part out of the tabloids.

"Hi Mimi" Her friend Rochelle greeted.

"Hey there Ro how was the weekend?" Mimi asked, smiling as she sat down.

"Pretty good, Jayson took me out all in all it was nice" Rochelle smiled, taking a seat next to Mimi.

"So, did you hear about the new model we're signing?" Mimi asked, looking through paper work.

"No, who?" Rochelle asked scandalously.

"16 years old, 5'10 brunette from Brazil" Mimi told her.

"16! Wow they get younger and younger every day, she beat your record Meems" Rochelle joked.

"Yea she can have it, I feel like Heidi Klum, I think I should start my own reality T.V show" Mimi laughed.

"That would be very Tyra Banks of you" Rochelle joined in.

"Nah, my days are over, I was on Sports Illustrated 7 times for god's sake, what more can I ask for" Mimi said truthfully.

"Don't forget the 3 cover pages for Maxim, 2 Playboy spreads and your 5 years signed to Victoria's Secret" Rochelle added.

"I love you" Mimi giggled.

"And you got the hottest guy ever to marry you! That's a feat in itself" Rochelle swooned.

"Ah yes the alleged husband" Mimi nodded.

"How are things going between you two?" Rochelle asked seriously.

"Civil, really civil" Mimi replied, sighing.

"As in?" Rochelle asked, wanting her to elaborate.

"He doesn't live with me anymore Ro, I mean I'm half expecting divorce papers to come in the mail next" Mimi said emotionally.

"He loves you Mimi, and he wouldn't do that to your kids I mean it's gotta be hard on them" Rochelle consoled.

"It's hard and frustrating, I just don't know what to do" Mimi said dejectedly.

"I can imagine, you both just need time, ever considered counseling?" Rochelle suggested.

"Well I mean never before this, I always thought telling a complete stranger our problems and hoping he will be able to work them out when we clearly couldn't, was stupid, but at this point I mean I've run out of options, so if I can get Matt to agree then I would definitely make an appointment" Mimi sighed, looking up at the ceiling.

XiXiXiXi

"Hello?" A voice answered.

"Rachel, it's Mimi, can you put my husband through?" Mimi said impatiently to Matt's secretary.

"Of course Mrs. Ishida, one moment" Rachel said politely.

"Stupid waiting music" Mimi muttered under her breath, putting the blue tooth in her ear, seeing as how she was driving.

"Hello" Matt said a second later.

"Hey it's me, listen are you free right now?" Mimi asked.

"Uhm, kinda I guess, why you need something?" Matt asked confusedly, lifting up a file.

"Yea, you" Mimi answered.

"What?" Matt asked again.

"I mean, like I wanna see you Matt, I need to talk to you" Mimi sighed, correcting herself.

"Right now Mimi?" Matt asked exasperatedly.

"Yea now please" Mimi said, swallowing her pride.

"Fine" Matt said.

"Meet me at the house in 20 please" Mimi instructed.

"Alright" Matt said, hanging up the phone.

Mimi was the first to get to their big empty feeling house. Without the kids, the house was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, it was a little creepy actually. She sat on the sofa in the T.V room, waiting for Matt to come. After about five minutes she heard the door open, Matt stumbled inside.

"Stupid coat rack" He mumbled, holding his foot. Mimi couldn't help but giggle, and soon the giggling turned into full blown laughter, Matt following the sounds of his wife's laughing came into the room.

"I'm glad my pain amuses you" He said sarcastically.

"Come on Broody, it was just a little funny" Mimi said, immediately stopping her laughter.

"What exactly did you-

"Did you forget what's on this Saturday?" Mimi interrupted.

"Yes, kindly remind me" Matt said honestly.

"Hello, December 17th your mother's Pre-Christmas Christmas Party, I just got the invitation in the mail" Mimi reminded him, thrusting the invitation at him.

"Great this thing again" Matt groaned, quickly looking over its contents before throwing the invitation on the table.

"Yea, oh no, you'll have to spend time with your family, maybe you should go jump off a cliff to avoid this cruel and unusual punishment" Mimi said maliciously, rolling her eyes at him.

"You don't mean that" Matt said quietly.

"Whatever" Mimi murmured.

"Look, I just, here's the thing, I don't want to announce our separation-

"Temporary separation" Matt corrected.

"Yea whatever, so can you just do me a favor and be here on the 17th so we can all go in the same car and try to have a good time" Mimi requested.

"And if not for me, do it for your kids, who so desperately want to spend some time with their father" Mimi added.

"Yes, okay, I'll come, my mother wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I skipped out on it now anyway" Matt said.

"Fine, good, so I can RSVP" Mimi said, writing down the number.

"Is this a small thing?" Matt asked casually.

"Well it's your family thing, it's going to be Me and you with the kids, Tk and Kari with T.J by extension Tai and Sora with Tay and Sammie, your parents, and I think some of like your cousins or something" Mimi replied.

"Oh" Was Matt's only response.

"Hey Matt?" Mimi asked softly.

"Hmm" He answered looking up at her.

"When we get back, would you be um, well willing, to uh, well like go for like counseling to like work on our marriage?" Mimi asked nervously.

"Mimi, you know how I feel about that" Matt whined.

"Please Matt, I mean I can't think of anything else and I mean if you don't want to do this, might as well send me some legal separation papers or something, because this isn't going anywhere" Mimi said a little coldly, turning her face, to shield her tears.

"If that's what you want Mimi, I'll do it" Matt sighed, checking his Rolex watch.

"What do you have to be somewhere?" Mimi asked, glaring at him.

"Well it's 2:45 Meems, the kids" Matt said looking up at her with a slight grin.

"Right" Mimi said awkwardly.

"Come with me" Matt stated.

"What?" Mimi asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Just come, they'll be happy to go out as a family and since I promised them Ice-cream and I don't know a bigger fan of ice-cream than you, why not?" Matt asked genuinely.

"I guess I could, I mean I do have a couple of designs I've been meaning to work on but it's not every day big business suit Matt Ishida makes time for his family so…" Mimi trailed off, she realized her statement was pretty harsh but he deserved it.

"That's the thing with you Mimi! I mean here I am trying to provide a stable environment, to give my kids everything they ever need or could possibly want, making sure that you don't have to work if you don't want to, I try and make things good at home and it's like the harder I try the madder you get, we wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't-

"For me! Don't you dare blame you lack of presence on me! I never needed you to provide me with all this, I appreciate you doing this Matt I do, I know you sacrificed a lot and I acknowledge that but is it too much to ask for you to spend some time with me! I can't tell you the amount of days I stayed up till 1 in the morning waiting for you to come to bed, and in the morning you still weren't there-

"I was at work Mimi! God, can't you for a second understand that! I mean it's not like you never neglected Rory while you were busy being a model I never throw that in your face do I-

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't regret that! But I'm trying now and that counts for something, and I know you took on a lot of responsibility when I tried to pursue my dream in modeling and for that I'm always gonna be grateful but-

"Enough, I didn't want to fight today, we really need to talk about things, and we should do it later, the kids are going to be off school soon enough" Matt said emotionlessly, his face was so incredibly hard to read, with that he turned away and walked towards the door.

Mimi stood there, breathing heavily, they had never had an open conversation like this since Matt moved out, mostly it had been civil and formal, how are you's and how's work been, that kind of thing.

"You coming?" He called from the doorway.

"Yes" Mimi said coldly, walking out with him.

"Car seat" Mimi said, in a monotone voice.

"Huh? What?" Matt asked, looking at her.

"Sophie's car seat" Mimi clarified, tossing him her keys.

"Oh right, okay" Matt nodded, unlocking his Denali so Mimi could get in, while he went to go get the car seat.

Mimi got into the passenger side of his car, crossing her arms over her chest she stared out of the window. She glanced at Matt, carrying the hot pink car seat to the car, he was still as attractive to her as she thought the day they met, physical attraction however wasn't enough to keep them together, not alone anyway. The closing of the driver's side door startled her.

"What time do they get out?" Matt asked, backing out of the driveway.

"3:15" Mimi answered, not even bothering to look at him.

"Look I understand that was one hell of a conversation but now that all the yelling is out of the way, maybe we can talk calmly" Matt said honestly.

"Mhmm" Was her only response.

"Mimi come on, I'm going out on a limb here" Matt sighed ruefully.

"Fine, okay, we're fine" Mimi said coolly.

"Fine" Matt said, giving up.

XiXiXiXi

"Is it weird that I had a dream about Matt last night?" Mimi asked over the phone, she was of course, talking to her best friend Sora.

"No, he's still your husband Meems, but was it dirty?" Sora asked, stifling a giggle.

"Seriously, yea kinda" Mimi said, laughing.

"Oh my god! So what was it like-

"I'm soo not going into detail, I think that's my body's way of telling me I'm sex deprived" Mimi sighed, shaking her head.

"Yea well, when was the last time you guys you know, did it?" Sora asked.

"Like seriously 5 months ago, I need me some Sora" Mimi admitted.

"I can imagine hon, I mean the two of you, pre-marital transgressions, were like rabbits" Sora sympathized.

"It's frustrating" Mimi said, falling back into the couch.

"Sexually frustrating" Sora laughed.

"Real original Sor" Mimi scoffed.

"But imagine how Matt's holding up, I mean if you feel like that, I can only-

"Which is why I'm a little skeptic about him not being with anyone, I mean we don't even live together, he knows I'm not the type to go and check on him, so for all I know he could be having sex right in that beach house" Mimi said, trying to mask her sadness.

"Don't think like that babe, Matt's not the type" Sora consoled.

"But Sora, he cheated on you" Mimi pointed out.

"Yes but Meems, we were teenagers, he's not perfect, but you guys are adults, and legally married still, he wouldn't do that to you trust me" Sora argued.

"Maybe you're right, I mean I could just be paranoid, I don't know, I need help" Mimi mumbled.

"I wish there was more I could say but I really don't know what I can say" Sora said apologetically.

"Oh don't even worry about that Sor, I just need to vent, I love you for being there for me" Mimi smiled.

"Anytime, but here's a question where is the alleged husband anyway?" Sora asked curiously.

"Well we went out for ice-cream-

"Wait we as in you guys together?" Sora interrupted, shocked.

"Yes is that so hard to believe?" Mimi asked a bit annoyed.

"Um yea when you guys hardly talk for like months" Sora answered.

"I know, and you know what I realized I missed him, you know I mean I always knew that I missed him but I never allowed myself to feel incomplete, I guess it was the feminist in me, but sitting there with him and my kids laughing and having a really good time I guess it dawned on me I'm still as in love with him as I was 2 years ago" Mimi sighed depressingly.

"Oh sweetie, I've known this for while, I'm glad you can admit it though and just so you know, he's never been more miserable, I should know, the guy can't cook so he's here 4 days out of 7" Sora joked.

"You never told me this" Mimi said seriously, there was a hint of anger in her voice.

"I'm sorry, I thought I did" Sora said uncomfortably, she was kind of lying.

"That's bull Sora, I'm only your best friend I can tell" Mimi said sarcastically.

"Mimi I wasn't hiding it from you, it just never came up" Sora said, her voice sounded a bit strained.

"Yea because something like that is just going to come up in an ordinary conversation" Mimi said, rolling her eyes.

"Well what would you have wanted me to do? Been like hey I know you're feeling terrible and I'm going to make it worst by telling you your estranged husband comes over my house more than half the days of the week! I mean come on, would the outcome been any different if I had told you then rather than now!?" Sora exclaimed confusedly.

"Sora if you were really my best friend you would have" Mimi said, her voice was devoid of any emotion, unlike her usual sunny disposition.

"Oh come on Mimi, this isn't high school, I figured you had enough to deal with and I mean I didn't wanna make it harder for you to take care of your kids by getting you depressed" Sora defended.

"Are you calling me a bad mother?" Mimi said angrily, she was at her breaking point.

"Of course not, I would never say that, you read into whatever you want, I didn't want to stress you out even more then you already were is my only point" Sora sighed wearily, she was in no mood to fight, not when both of her daughters were running circles around her and her husband wasn't home yet.

"I'll call you later" Mimi mumbled, almost inaudible.

"Fine" Sora said simply, she wasn't going to make Mimi talk if she didn't feel like it.

Mimi hung up the phone and sat on the sofa with her head in her hands. When did things get this bad? Her mind wandered to 4 months ago:

_Mimi looked around the empty dining room, her eyes glanced at the clock, it said 11:45, she sighed. Lately Matt had been staying later and later at the office, he claimed that he had no control over but she knew that was crap, he just didn't feel like being at home, I mean that had to be the only explanation right? He would come home after she and the kids had gone to bed and leave before any of them woke up. Tonight, however, she was determined, he would talk to her._

_The sound of the door creaking open alarmed her, she shivered slightly. His quiet footsteps entered the house, she could tell his apart from anyone else's in the world. Getting up, she stood in the kitchen, he always came in the kitchen first and as she heard him put his briefcase down, she realized that it was now or never, that she could put off the discussion that could be the end of them to another night, she could still quietly dart up those stairs and pretend she's sleeping as she had done for the past few months. But as his footsteps came closer she realized it had to be now._

_Opening the light he jumped slightly, taken aback by her standing there, he didn't __think that she would be awake._

_"You're not asleep?" He asked, not quite meeting her eye._

_"No" She said, biting back a retort._

_"Any particular reason?" He asked, his sudden interest in the linoleum floor annoyed her._

_"Can you answer me a question, with full honesty?" Mimi asked finally, sitting on one of the chairs._

_"I guess" Matt sighed running a hand through his spiky blonde hair._

_"Do you still love me?" She asked, and though the answer might break her heart, she needed to know._

_"Come on Mimi, that's really not even-_

_"Just answer me Matt, I don't think it's a complicated question and for me a simple yes or no will suffice" Mimi interrupted._

_"I, yes, I do love you" He said, there was an air of finality in his voice, as if he never wanted her to__ doubt __ him again._

_"Then why would you stay away from me, and your kids who miss you so much all the time, I mean you love them don't you?" Mimi asked, her voice was close to breaking._

_"Of course I love them Mimi" He answered immediately, __appalled__ that she even had to ask._

_"Then what? Do you find me unattractive? Am I fat? What?" She asked desperately._

_"Mimi do you really need to ask me that? To me you will and always have been the most beautiful, sexy-_

_"Then tell me what about me makes you stay away?" She demanded impatiently._

_"I've just had so much work" Matt claimed unconvincingly._

_"That's complete and total bull shit and you know it" Mimi hissed._

_He could tell she was mad__ the one thing his wife never did was curse__, and hurt__ he could tell that above anything else she was hurt__, he wanted nothing more __than__ to put his arms around her and tell her that nothing could hurt her again._

_"Mimi, I needed to figure some things out okay?" He sighed, his voice seemed tired and for the first time that night he looked into her eyes._

_"Like what?" She asked, her voice was barely above a whisper now._

_"I feel like I can't provide you with everything you need" Matt said, immediately looking away._

_"What do you mean?" She asked wearily, she was tired too, not just physically but emotionally._

_"You just asked me if I loved you, not once in the 7 years we've been together have you ever doubted me, and today you went as far as to ask if I loved our kids Meems, I mean I must have really fucked up" __Matt said, his voice was soft, it held remorse and a tinge of guilt._

_"Look maybe I should go to the beach house for a while, give both of us some time to figure out what the hell we need to do to fix this" Matt continued, his eyes were glued to the counter._

_"Fine" She said coldly._

_"We're not getting anywhere and-_

_"Whatever, it's not like you're ever here anyway, now you can just change your mailing address" She said icily, walking past him…_

"Mommy!" Her younger daughter shrieked, jumping on top of her.

"Hi kids, did my babies have fun?" Mimi asked, trying to recollect herself.

"Yes! We got to go to the play place!" Mikey exclaimed excitedly, as a boy of only five little Michael was pretty easy to please and very easily excited.

"And Mommy, the whole time Rory just read her book, she wouldn't even come play with me" Her son pouted.

Her oldest daughter, was by far the most unique girl of her age. While she was beautiful, the almost spitting image of her father, her back length sun kissed blonde hair was about pin straight, her big bright blue eyes would change from time to time getting lighter and darker with her moods, her cute nose and paleish complexion were all attributes she received from her father, however the light little freckles around her nose and the very noticeable dimples plus her heart shaped face were features she inherited from Mimi. So all in all she was already a girl all the guys wanted and in school she had friends but she had the lone wolf personality of her father, she like nothing better than to read by herself. Mimi would often laugh that she had never seen a 7 year old so interested in the works of John Steinbeck.

"That's your sister sweetie and you love her" Mimi smiled, ruffling his hair.

"Where is Rory?" Mimi asked curiously.

"She's coming" Mikey said uninterestedly.

Just as he said that, Matt walked in with Rory in his arms.

"Can you please stay, a little bit?" Rory asked one more time.

"I um…" Matt trailed off, glancing at Mimi as if to search for an answer.

"You um, could stay for dinner" Mimi said, trying act cool about it, her discussion with Sora as bad as it was showed her that maybe there was hope for them yet, if he missed her as much as she missed him then maybe they could work it out.

"I have to-

"Dinner with Sora and Tai?" Mimi interrupted, raising an eyebrow.

"You know?" Matt asked, confusedly.

"Yes, and my offer still stands okay? Obviously your kids want you to stay but if your prior obligations are too important for you to skip than far be it for me to compromise it" Mimi said a bit coldly, she hated when he did things like that he was so wishy washy and he never said exactly what he wanted.

"I'll yea, I guess I'll stay for dinner" Matt smiled.

"Yayyy!!!" Her kids cheered, well the ones old enough to cheer.

"Daddy!" Sophie demanded, raising her arms towards him.

"Come here baby girl" Matt grinned, picking her up into his arms.

"Dad! Let's watch the game!" Mikey exclaimed, turning on the TV.

Mimi smiled, a bit sadly in face, as she made her way into the kitchen, she loved when her kids were so happy she just wished she could keep this happy all the time. She was contemplating on whether she should just order pizza, she knows that would please her kids.

"Mom" Rory said quietly, standing in the kitchen.

"Hey girlie" Mimi said, preparing a smile as she turned to face her daughter.

"Are you and Dad, ever going to get back together?" She asked, her face was serious, it wasn't sad it just looked slightly confused.

"Oh baby you know I can't-

"Please Mom, I'm not Mikey or Sophie, just tell me okay?" She pleaded.

Mimi inhaled deeply, not knowing what to say, so she improvised.

"You know I can't promise you anything angel, but I'll tell you this, if me and your dad do get a divorce it's going to be because we couldn't work things out, not because we don't love each other or because of you guys okay?" Mimi said, putting her hands on her knees so she was at face lever with Rory.

"If you guys love each other then why would you get a divorce?!" She demanded.

"Sometimes loving a person isn't enough sweets, you're gonna have to trust me on that" Mimi sighed, kissing her daughter's forehead.

"Mommy, I wanna live with you, if you and daddy divorce" She said simply.

Mimi laughed, it was nice to know that her daughter was still somewhat of a kid even if she didn't act like it, and it was also nice to hear that she was still needed.

"Go wash up for dinner pretty girl, I'm ordering pizza" Mimi said, still smiling.

"Yes" Her daughter said happily, running out of the kitchen.

"Hi Joe it's Mimi, lemme get a large pizza with everything on it, no anchovies though, and a small pan pizza" Mimi ordered, the town was small so everyone knew each other and after living there for several years nobody got too excited at the thought of talking to a supermodel, it wasn't really a big deal anymore.

"You got it Mimi, delivery?" He asked.

"Yea" Mimi answered distractedly.

"$23.50, and it'll take like 15 minutes" He said.

"Thanks Joe" Mimi said before hanging up.

Mimi put the phone back on the receiver she sighed again, contemplating whether or not she should call Sora, the events from a little while ago still fresh in her mind.

_"Oh come on Mimi, this isn't high school, I figured you had enough to deal with and I mean I didn't wanna make it harder for you to take care of your kids by getting you depressed" Sora defended._

_"Are you calling me a bad mother?" Mimi said angrily, she was at her breaking point._

Shaking her head, Mimi turned away from the phone, had she really been a bad mother? Did she not give her kids enough attention? Matt said it himself, she had neglected Rory in favor of pursuing her modeling career. And when he had said that she realized he had been right to feel angry but why take it out on her now?

--------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Awh poor Mimi, she feels like crap! Don't worry she'll get better, there will be more dramatic flashbacks to come since the story right now is a little confusing and up next the Pre-Christmas Christmas Party, don't you just love that, say it couple of times its fun! Christmas will be here in…(Counting, counting) 18 days!!!! And my birthday is in 5 days!!! The 17th!!! Woo hoo!! Okay enough, review please please please!!!! As you can tell the holiday season gets me kinda wacky!!! Love all of you!!! 3 reviews or more


	3. PreChristmas Christmas Party

Mimi leaned against the door frame, she watched as Mikey and Matt were glued to the television, each point had them jumping for joy, and each point for the other team had them yelling at the TV screen, Matt had even been close to throwing around some profanity but he controlled himself.

"Dad do you think that the Lakers will come back?" Mikey asked eagerly. Matt and Mimi had lived in California all their life, so had their friends, first in Laguna and now in a quiet town a little outside of L.A. Matt, Tai and Tk had always been big Lakers fans, Mimi knew right as soon as she was having a son that he would turn out the same. She smiled inwardly at the memory.

_"Are you nervous?" Matt asked uneasily._

_"Kinda, yea, how'd you know?" Mimi asked him confusedly._

_"You were doing that thing babe, where you bite your bottom lip" Matt replied, glancing in the back seat to make sure his two year old daughter was still asleep._

_"I just, I mean today isn't just a regular appointment Matt, we find out today" Mimi sighed, placing a hand over her rounded stomach, it wasn't too big, Sora's was a lot bigger then hers, but then Sora was also 5 months pregnant, while Mimi was just 4._

_"With Rory, you could hardly contain your excitement, what's the matter now?" He asked __attentively_

_"Are we really ready Matt? Two kids? Seriously?" Mimi asked, her voice was filled with apprehension._

_"Hey, look at me, __I'm thrilled we're having another baby, and you're such a great mother we're more __than__ ready" Matt assured her, taking her small hand and kissing it lightly._

_"You're such a dork" Mimi smiled through the tears that had lined her eyes._

_"Feeling better?" Matt laughed, pulling into the parking lot._

_"Yes, I'm just hormonal you know" Mimi nodded, taking off her seat belt._

_"Believe me I know" Matt said, shaking his head._

_"She's sleeping my baby, you know, you know you and Rory are the best things that ever happened to me" Mimi said honestly as Matt gently took their daughter out of the car._

_"That's good to know baby, since I plan on marrying you" Matt smiled lightly._

_"6 months" Mimi beamed, gazing at the engagement ring he so carefully place on her finger just 4 months ago._

_Mimi grabbed a people magazine as they sat in the waiting room, Rory crankily woke up, her big blue eyes gazing around the unfamiliar room. Her eyes eventually fell on the blocks in the corner and reached out to them._

_"Grab those?" Mimi asked sweetly._

_Matt brought over like 20 blocks and set Rory on the floor right in front of them._

_"I hope this baby looks a little like me" Mimi sighed ruefully._

_"Oh come on Rory looks a bit like you" Matt consoled._

_"Oh right, because here I stand with blonde hair and blue eyes" Mimi said sarcastically._

_"She has your dimples" Matt said, kissing her forehead._

_Mimi opened her mouth to say something when the nurse came out._

_"Uhm Mimi Tachikawa" She called._

_"Right that's me" Mimi said, inhaling deeply. While Rory's last name was Ishida, Mimi wanted to wait until they got married to start calling herself Ishida._

_"You're coming right?" Mimi asked._

_"Yea, I'm coming" Matt said, grabbing Rory off the floor, before they proceeded into the office._

_"Okay, so how are things?" Dr. Mason asked._

_"Good, listen Liza before we continue, I have a question" Mimi said quickly._

_"Sure" She smiled._

_"So __I get to find out the sex today right?" Mimi asked._

_"Yes…" The dr. answered._

_"And like I won't be like finding out that I'm having twins or anything right? Because like I've seen it on __TV__ shows and movies, girl goes in to find out sex and comes out with like quadruplets!" Mimi exclaimed fearfully, she wanted one baby not four!_

_"Calm down, while I can't say one hundred percent that you won't be having twins, I can tell you this, you would be way bigger if you had 4 babies in there" The dr. assured her, laughing slightly._

_"So come on let's get you into the sonogram room" Dr. Mason ushered them, leading them into the very dimly lit room._

_Mimi went in and __lay__ on the chair bed thing and waited, lifting her shirt up as the dr. hooked up the machines to the projector thing in the room._

_"Mama!" Rory __exclaimed__, in Matt's lap, reaching for her mother._

_"Matt" Mimi hissed as Rory began to pull on random wires crankily, she wanted her mom._

_"Here Rory" Matt said, pulling out his keys to assuage her__immediately__ she was quiet, always thoroughly mesmerized by keys._

_"Let's see what we have here" __Dr .Mason__ said, putting the cold jelly on Mimi's stomach then putting the monitor on._

_"Okay well here's the head oh look, foot in the mouth how cute, I'm going to try and get a clearer picture" The doctor said distractedly, Mimi smiled __meekly__, before glancing at Matt._

_"Oh, looks like, yeap, you've got yourselves a boy" The doctor beamed._

_"A son! Matt we're having a son!" Mimi __squealed__ jumping up and hugging him, forgetting she was in the middle of a sonogram._

_"I heard" Matt laughed, just as happy._

_The doctor was a little by the sudden movement but she had known Mimi long enough not to be too surprised._

_"I'm so sorry, I'm just excited!" Mimi apologized, she had the largest grin on her face._

_"Perfectly fine, you were about done anyway" Liza laughed, turning off the machine._

_"Heard that Rory, you're gonna have a brother" Matt whispered almost inaudibly, but Mimi heard him and she smiled…_

"Mommy, are you watching the game too?" Mikey asked suddenly, Mimi shook herself out of the memory.

"Nah" Mimi said playfully, walking over to him. Matt watched her, to him she was the most beautiful woman on the planet, her waist length reddish brown hair had an everlasting shine, her hazel eyes always had a way conveying her moods, her flawless skin always glowed and her body well, what's there to say about it, she was after all a Victoria's Secret Lingerie/Bikini model and that speaks for itself. He found it crazy when Sora had mentioned that Mimi was beginning to think that he was actually having an affair, there was no one that could compare to her, not just because she was the sexiest woman ever, no really, Maxim deemed her sexiest woman alive in 2004, but because above anything else she was the mother of his children and no one could take her place.

"Look Dad the games back!" Mikey exclaimed, pointing at the flat screen TV.

"Why don't you show Daddy how you can read the score" Mimi urged.

"Uhm, I don't know" Mikey said unsurely.

"Come on little man, I know you can" Matt encouraged.

"Uh, I think, is that 54?" He asked hopefully.

"Yea, and the other one?" Mimi asked proudly.

"I, its 60" He said more confidently.

"Good job!" Matt congratulated, ruffling his hair.

"So that fancy $30,000 a year prep school is working" Matt said lightly, looking at Mimi.

"And all my kids are smart for their age" Mimi said, she felt like any mother did, her kids were special.

"Watch" She told him, sitting on the floor next to Sophie who was playing with her barbies.

"Soph, how old are you?" Mimi asked slowly, her daughter looked up at her.

"Sophie, tell daddy how old you are" Mimi repeated. Sophie looked up at Matt, then held up a finger.

"One" She chirped, before returning to her game.

Matt sat there, slightly amazed, Mimi got up and smiled looking proud of herself.

"You taught her that?" He asked.

"I guess, but I didn't really have to teach her, she basically picked up on it herself" Mimi said.

"You would know that if you were here" She mumbled.

"What was that?" Matt asked.

"Oh nothing" She said over sweetly, walking back into the kitchen.

"Where are you going Dad?" Mikey asked, as Matt got up.

"I'll be right back little man, keep an eye on your sister" Matt said, following Mimi.

He went in slowly and quietly, he didn't want to scare her or make her leave, he saw her sitting at the table, twirling a lock of her hair in between her forefinger and middle finger, she was deeply into a the book she was reading.

_Probably some cheesy romance novel_' Matt thought as she looked up at him.

"Yes?" She asked, looking into his misty blue eyes.

"I, you, are you mad?" He asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Matt, what would I be mad about?" she asked, sighing tiredly.

"You were really quiet you know, and I mean I know we had an argument but I just wanted to apologize if I said some things then that might have hurt you" Matt mumbled honestly.

"its fine Matt, we both said things and in the heat of the moment it happens" Mimi said, faking a smile.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Matt asked, a bit nervously.

"Yea" Mimi replied, folding down a page and motioning for him to sit down.

"Sora, well more like Tai, told me that you thought I was cheating on you or well I was doing-

"What?!" Mimi exclaimed, her voice was dangerously low.

"Don't get mad, I asked first, and I wanted to let you know that I'm really not, I still love you and I could never cheat on you, we're married" Matt said assuringly, he knew she would get angry but he really didn't want her thinking that that's the kind of guy he was, though after the many years they had been together she shouldn't have had those kind of feelings at all but he guessed he was to blame for it anyway.

"Matt, you can do whatever you want" Mimi said, it was completely untrue, it would kill her if he did do something with someone else and while she was slightly embarrassed that he knew about her doubts, she was more relieved, and he actually told her he loved her, she felt like a girl in high school getting excited that her crush finally noticed her.

"You don't mean that" Matt said he had a small smile on his face as he reached over and lifted her chin so slowly she met his eyes.

"Your right it would kill me" Mimi sighed, tears lined her eyes and she immediately shook herself of his touch.

"You're not, on me right?" Matt asked unsurely, he felt so uncool as he asked that question but he needed to know cause it was driving him crazy.

"With three kids in the house I barely have a minute to myself let alone to do anything else" Mimi said, slightly laughing at the insinuation.

Matt got up to leave, he could hear his son calling him and he didn't want to leave the two of them alone for too long.

"Matt" Mimi called softly, just before he left.

"Yea?" He asked, turning around, before he knew it she flung herself on to him, she buried her face in his chest, he carefully wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her hair.

"I still love you too" She whispered, almost inaudibly, but he heard. They released and Mimi looked away from him.

"Dad!" Mikey called again.

"I should…" Matt trailed off pointing towards the door.

"Yea" Mimi nodded, turning towards the stairs, maybe she might just give Sora a call, since her butting in kind of gave them a push in the right direction.

XiXiXiXi

Mimi woke up again to a cold and lonely bed, she hugged the sheets close to her body, she felt slightly depressed, sighing loudly she stuck her head in her pillow.

Looking over at her alarm clock, she checked the time, the clock read 9:31 Am, well at least it was Saturday. Mimi's eyes fell on the magazine next to the alarm clock, knowing she wasn't going to get any more sleep anyway she picked up. Not even bothering to turn on the light Mimi sat up crass legged and looked at the cover of her Star Magazine.

The cover story read:

_The Happy Family? Where's Matt?_

Under it was a picture of Mimi with her three kids, Sophie in her arms.

Mimi groaned loudly, she really hated media attention, she wasn't Britney Spears or Paris Hilton who thrived off of misdemeanors and infamous screw-ups, she wanted to be able to live her life and raise her kids in a quiet, normal environment. Curiously however she turned to page 32, just wondering what kind of lies they had printed about her this week.

_Gorgeous couple Matt Ishida (CEO of __Landmark Corporations) and wife former Victoria's Secret model Mimi have confirmed that they are having marital difficulties-_

"We so did not!" Mimi snorted, before continuing to read.

_Sources close to them report that Matt has moved out of their L.A home and into the beach house about 30 minutes away, in their home town of Laguna Beach. "I really hope they can reconcile __for their kid's sake" A friend to Mimi confesses. We all do, because recently Mimi has had to take enormous responsibility for the three children, oldest Lorelle Jaiden (7), Michael Anthony (5) and Sophia Michelle (1 ½). Friends close to the young mother admit that she hasn't been as attentive lately and are afraid she might fail due to the added pressure, they all just want what's best for the pair. Neighbors also reported to hearing loud fights coming from the home up until Matt moved out-_

Mimi threw the magazine as far across the room as she could, she was infuriated with the lies written, well they weren't exactly lies per say, it was just really budging the truth, yes Matt had moved out and he was living in Laguna but the fact that people are saying that she might end up failing as a mother that just made her really angry. But she had been in the spotlight long enough to realize that most of the time the sleazy paparazzi and reporters use other people's names to shield their own opinion and make their thoughts seem like facts.

Mimi's phone began vibrating at her bed side, her caller i.d read : Matt calling.

"Hi" She said in to her blackberry.

"Babe, I took the kids out to breakfast" He said sheepishly.

"No wonder it was so quiet, that's fine, remember please that we have to leave to your mom's today" Mimi sighed._ Did he just call her babe?_

"Shit, man, I forgot" Matt cussed.

"Matt, don't curse, not around the kids anyway" Mimi reprimanded.

"Anyway, please pack, I want to leave by like three, since it takes two hours to get there" Mimi continued.

"I kinda hoped we could just not go" Matt said hopefully.

"Okay, you call your mother and tell her that we aren't coming" Mimi said rolling her eyes.

"On second thought, leaving at three is fine, but what do you mean pack?" Matt asked, confusedly.

"Matt, do you not remember that this party lasts until 12 usually-

"Right" Matt groaned.

"Seriously I mean do you hate spending time your family, let me rephrase that, do you hate spending time with me that much?!" Mimi exclaimed angrily.

"Mimi, please, not now" Matt sighed.

"Right because I'm crazy and I imagine stupid little scenarios in my head!" Mimi spat.

"I love spending time with you-

"You're really awesome at showing that then!" Mimi cut him off.

"I just hate my mother's parties" Matt continued.

"I don't even care, whatever, come, don't come, just please have my kids home" Mimi said hanging up the phone.

Reaching for her house phone, Mimi got out of bed, in her pink flannel shorts and small tank top. Quickly she dialed Sora's phone number, sure they were in a "fight" but Mimi needed her best friend and Sora was the only one who wouldn't judge her and give her unbiased and honest advice.

"Hello?" A male voice answered.

"Tai, my love" Mimi greeted.

"Hey Meems, how's it goin?" Tai asked, running a hand through his wild chocolate brown hair.

"Can't complain, I guess" Mimi sighed.

"Oh yea you sound great" Tai said sarcastically.

"Hey, I thought you'd be mad at me for making Matt break your dinner date" Mimi joked, changing the subject.

"At you? Never, but really Meems, if there's one thing the dick head knows, it's that he loves you, he's an ass, that best friend of mine, bear with him" Tai said seriously.

"Trust me I'm trying" Mimi smiled.

"So, Sora right?" Tai asked.

"Yes please" Mimi answered.

There was shuffling, the sound of voices, most probably Taylor and Samantha's.

"Mimi's on the phone" Tai murmured, handing Sora the phone.

"I'm sorry!" The both apologized together.

"Middle school much" Mimi laughed, Sora joined in.

"I shouldn't have said those things Meems-

"No way Sor, I needed to hear it, I love you-

"No I love you" Sora smiled.

"So I have a problem, well really I have several but right now there's something I really need to talk about" Mimi rambled.

"I'm all ears, wait two seconds-

"Taylor Marie Kamiya I am not going to ask you to pick these toys up again!" Sora exclaimed.

"Okay, mommy, okay" Taylor sighed, picking up her dolls.

"Sammy, come help your sister" Sora called, walking out of her daughter's bedroom.

"But Mom, this is Tay's room, she should clean, I didn't make this mess" Sam complained.

"I know but you be a good big sister and help any way please" Sora said, kissing her oldest daughter's cheek before going into her bedroom.

"I don't know how you manage three kids" Sora joked, closing her bedroom door.

"Okay so dish the drama" Sora said enthusiastically, sitting on her bed.

"So today-

"Pre- Christmas Christmas Party, yea-

"You're going right, by the way?" Mimi asked.

"Well yea, Tai's mother wouldn't let me hear the end of it" Sora said, rolling her eyes.

"At least Tai wants to go, he isn't dreading it like someone I know" Mimi mumbled madly.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked confusedly.

"Matt like so doesn't want to go like at all, I mean it's like the worst punishment for him" Mimi said sadly.

"You ever think it's because he doesn't want to go see his parents, rather then he doesn't want to spend time with you" Sora said encouragingly.

"I don't know what to think anymore, I mean he says he loves me but can't spend more than five minutes with me, he calls me babe but never actually calls me, I mean he's so wishy washy and he just really confuses me" Mimi said aggravatedly.

"It's tough I know, but as a person who knows both of you really well, I think you two can work this out" Sora said truthfully.

"Okay sure maybe, but honestly Sora, I feel like I don't even know who the hell he is anymore" Mimi said remorsefully.

"Try just talking to him Meems, no fighting, or arguing, light subjects, get to know each other again" Sora suggested.

"Yea I guess so" Mimi said.

"Try it, any way I have a question, are you planning to stay overnight?" Sora asked.

"Yeap, you are too right?" Mimi asked.

"Have to" Sora said wearily.

"Are you bringing clothes?" Mimi asked.

"Yeap" Sora answered.

"Okay, Sor, call me before you leave and I'll see you there" Mimi said.

"Sure hon, I'll see you in a bit" Sora said, hanging up the phone.

XiXiXiXi

"Mimi! For the fifth time we are going to be late!" Matt called again, checking his watch, it read 3:36 P.M

"I'm coming! I'm coming" Mimi said, walking down the stairs, she was dressed in dark blue skinny jeans and a light green V-neck sweater, her hair was done in light curls and she had very little make up on.

"Matt, we're gonna have to stop somewhere later so I can change, I am so not going through a two hour ride in that dress" Mimi told him.

"Sure" Matt nodded.

"Where are the kids?" Mimi inquired.

"Car" Matt answered.

"You left my kids in the car alone!?" Mimi shrieked.

"Their my kids too first off, and secondly for like 15 minutes and it's a Denali, what the hell could possibly happen?" Matt asked, slightly annoyed.

"Okay okay whatever, I really don't want to fight" Mimi said, scrunching her eye brows and pursing her lips, Matt always thought she looked cute when she did that.

"Come on" Matt smiled, putting an arm around her.

They made it to the car without exchanging many words, looking to the back Mimi saw her kids.

"Mommy!" Mikey said excitedly, kissing his mother's cheek.

"Hi baby, did you have fun?" Mimi asked, pulling him onto her lap and kissing him.

"Yea, I missed you" He said, hugging her.

"Awh I missed you too" Mimi smiled.

"You all have to change, including you, tell me you brought at least a dress shirt" Mimi said, turning towards Matt.

"Yea I did" Matt told her.

Soon enough Sophie fell asleep in her car seat, Rory was listening to her iPod and reading a book and Mikey was playing his Nintendo DS. Not able to stand the silence Mimi turned on the music and slipped one of her Cd's into the changer.

"Matt?" Mimi asked softly, looking at him.

"Yea?" He answered, turning to her for a second before turning his attention back on the road.

"Were you happy, when I found out I was pregnant with Sophie I mean, were you?" Mimi asked slowly.

"I really can't believe you have to ask, but if it makes you happy, yea I was, ecstatic actually" Matt said, slightly frowning, he was hurt.

"Then I mean, where did we go so wrong? When did you become so unhappy? Was it like someone else, because if that was the reason Matt I mean just tell me-

"Mimi, it wasn't anybody else jeez, how many times do I have to say that!" Matt exclaimed.

"I need to know Matt, where did it go so horribly wrong!? We used to be able to talk about everything, now I don't even know you anymore!" Mimi said, trying to keep her voice down, tears began to well up into her eyes.

"Hey listen to me, we can talk about this all you want later, I'll give you any answers you need, just right now, let's not" Matt said softly, wiping away a tear, Mimi hit his hand away and turned up the song.

XiXiXiXi

After making three stops, including the one Mimi needed to change and change the kids, they finally got to Matt's mom's house, 15 minutes before the party was to start. Mimi was in a light pink knee length dress, it had small straps and cut off a little after the top of her breasts, she had on light pink Michael Kors stilettos.

"Mom, are we going to be bored?" Mike asked.

"No you won't, Taylor and Samantha are going to be there and so will T.j" Mimi assured him.

"I hate this house" Matt mumbled, ringing the door bell. About a second later the maid answered it, letting them in.

"Mattie!" His mother said, making her way over to them.

"You look so handsome" She smiled, hugging him.

"Lorelle, look at you, you look just like your daddy, give grandma a hug!" She said, squeezing her.

"Thanks grand ma" Lorelle smiled shyly.

"And look at Michael, oh and Sophia, they're so gorgeous" She said, laughing.

"Thanks mom" Matt smiled.

"Oh Mimi, you look nice too" She added as an after thought.

"Thanks Nancy" Mimi said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"How's that uh modeling thing working out for you, I mean when you get paid for being practically naked and walking in heels you know life's good" She said condescendingly.

"Mom, Mimi's job is much harder than it looks" Matt stepped in.

"Yes, yes of course I wasn't saying anything to the effect that it wasn't" Nancy said quickly.

"Right, well I need a martini" Mimi said walking away.

"Are you sure she's okay? I mean I read somewhere that she's developed a nasty alcohol problem" Nancy asked Matt quietly.

"Mom, you of all people should know you can't believe everything you read, of course Mimi has no alcohol addiction, please don't ever say that again, especially not in front of the kids" Matt said edgily, he wanted to make sure his point got across.

Matt went into the room, where all the other kids were.

"Sam!" Rory exclaimed happily, hugging her best friend.

"Rory! I haven't seen you in like forever!" Sam said running towards her, her red hair flowing behind her.

"Hi Mikey" Taylor said shyly.

"Hi Tay" Mike said normally.

"Did you think that Math was hard?" She asked.

"No, I think I got everything right" He boasted.

"Alright Rory, I'm leaving keep an eye on your brother and sister okay" Matt instructed.

"Yes Daddy" She smiled distractedly.

"Call me or your mom if there's a problem" He said leaving.

"Matt Ishida!" Someone called behind him, it was a soft feminine voice. Slowly he turned around to a woman right around his age.

"Rachel, hey" Matt said, surprised.

"How long has it been!" she exclaimed hugging him.

"A while I would think" He laughed, hugging her back, meanwhile Mimi watched this display of affection from across the room.

"C'mon, let's go" Sora urged her, as Mimi watched the two laugh, the woman with the dark red hair, green eyes and slender figure touch his arm and look at him with longing eyes.

"Mimi, please, let's just go sit down" Sora said, pulling her away.

"Well I should really go" Matt told her.

"Oh yea sure, of course, by the way how's the marriage?" She asked, a quiet smirk forming on her face.

"I um, well you've read things right?"Matt asked, running a hand through his blonde hair.

"Well I mean sure, but half of them were too ridiculous to believe, are you really back in Laguna though?" Rachel asked with wide eyes.

"Temporarily yea, beach house" Matt answered.

"Well that settles it, we're hanging out" She stated.

"Oh yea, that's appropriate, I'm married Rach" Matt laughed.

"You're still so egotistical, thinking every girl wants to be with you, I mean of course Matt Ishida's god's gift to women" Rachel laughed too, rolling her eyes at him.

"Rachel you act like it's not true" Matt said cockily.

"Whatever you say Ishida" Rachel smiled.

"So it was nice seeing you" Matt said, turning away.

"You too Matt, look me up kay?" She requested.

"Sure" He said, walking into the main hall.

Scanning the room he saw that this was no small gathering, there must be atleast 100 people there, finally he found who he was looking for, Mimi, she was sitting with Sora and Kari, Tai and Tk not too far away from them, she looked upset and _drunk_.

"Fuck" He said under his breath, quickly making his way through the random people that were in his way.

"Dick" He heard Sora say, but ignored it.

"Mimi" He breathed out, touching her shoulder, turning around she glared at him, oh if looks could kill Matt would be dying an extremely horrible and excruciatingly painful death right now.

"You're such an ass" Sora spat.

"Alright what the hell, can I at least know why I'm being insulted.

"Fine" Sora said, narrowing her fiery auburn eyes.

Quickly Sora pulled him into a secluded corner, Matt looked at her quizzically.

"Matt, you were flirting with that red head I mean-

"Rachel!? No way!" Matt defended.

"Oh right come on even you aren't that dense, she had her hands all over you and that hug, I mean under normal circumstances what the hell would Mimi care right? Except that's the girl that your mom wanted you to marry, and she wants you!" Sora exclaimed incredulously.

"How is she?" Matt asked, glancing at his wife.

"Upset Matt" Sora sighed.

"How many has she had?" He asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Four" Sora said with a dry laugh.

"You know my mom thinks Mimi's an alcoholic" Matt said bitterly.

"Jeez, I'm sure this will put an end to that idea" Sora said sarcastically.

"She isn't drunk by the way, but I should really get over there before she gets to that point" Sora added, walking away from him.

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A/N: So what'd ya think? Good? Bad? Delete? I really like this story and I was hoping for more reviews!! Please review!!


	4. You're not so bad

"Meems, it's almost 12, you guys are probably gonna leave early tomorrow and you have to go into your room sometime" Sora whispered, as they stood in the dark upstairs living room.

"But Sora, couldn't me and you just you know, sleep in here?" Mimi asked.

"It's creepy!" Sora said.

"I know" Mimi sighed.

"It's Matt, you know your husband, so stop being such a baby" Sora said, pushing her out of the dank, scary living room.

"Easy for you to say, you're used to sleeping with your husband" Mimi mumbled.

"Whatever" Sora said.

"Why can't you just tell Tai to switch rooms with me?" Mimi asked, sticking out her bottom lip.

"Because, Matt and Tai would never share a single bed" Sora giggled.

"Fine" Mimi pouted, putting her hand to the door knob.

"Good night sweetie" Sora winked, going into her own room.

Mimi inhaled deeply, wondering if it was too late to go and share a bed with Rory, but realized that she had to do this, this was her husband for god sakes, could she be any more of a weirdo? I mean seriously.

Mimi turned the doorknob and opened the door slowly, revealing Matt in only his boxers and a wife beater, he was watching some baseball game.

_Runaway! He's too hot! Did you forget he sleeps like that? _A voice sounding like hers said in her head.

Too late, Matt looked up at her, he gave her a polite smile, and she returned it.

"So I'm just gonna change" Mimi said softly, clearing her throat.

"Oh yea sure" Matt nodded, they were both a little awkward since the events of that night, including the very unproductive car ride.

Mimi took out a light pink tank top and a pair of small, flannel light pink shorts. Sure she was a mother but she couldn't wear those old people clothes to bed, they were uncomfortable, and reminded her way too much of her mother.

As she went into the bathroom, Mimi took one last look at Matt, before mumbling

"It's going to be a long night"

As Mimi walked out of the bathroom, Matt took notice. Her legs looked great as usual, one of the perks of being married to a supermodel was that she had an extremely nice body, however tonight that same fact was working against him as he shifted uncomfortably.

"Uhm if this is too uncomfortable for you I could go-

"No Matt, don't even worry about it" Mimi interrupted, waiving a hand of dismissal.

"Okay" Matt nodded, he was glad she felt that way because he didn't want to go sleep in the living room.

Mimi came and sat down on the bed, she didn't lay down she just sat and crossed her legs, Matt could feel her gaze on him, so he turned off the game, even though it was a Yankees vs Red Sox game and it was about to go into extra innings.

"The game was at the bottom of the ninth, you seriously didn't have to turn it off" Mimi told him honestly.

"No it's fine, I'll just watch it when they you know show it again…" Matt trailed off.

"So about the whole thing that happened, can we like-

"Forget it? Yea" Matt finished.

"Uhm, so good" Mimi said awkwardly.

"Yea" Matt said.

"So- they both started.

"You go first" Mimi said.

"I was just gonna say that you looked really beautiful tonight, I mean I don't think I said it so I wanted to let you know" Matt complimented.

"You didn't, and thanks" Mimi said, a small appearing on her face.

"You clean up real nice too" Mimi winked, feeling a little more relaxed.

"Oh yea?" Matt grinned, raising an eye brow.

"I mean, once you, you know shave, take a shower you don't look half bad" Mimi joked.

"Really? Just half bad huh?" Matt smirked.

Mimi began to nod and just as she had Matt began to tickle her.

"Stop! You know I'm super ticklish" Mimi choked out in between giggles.

"Who's the man?" Matt asked, laughing at her hysterically laughing.

"You are okay, you!" Mimi exclaimed, holding her sides.

"Thank you" Matt smirked.

"You suck, meanie" Mimi said childishly, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Yea well" Matt shrugged.

"You were always so ticklish, I mean when are you going to grow out of that?" Matt said, laughing.

"Stop making fun of me" Mimi said narrowing her eyes at him.

"I mean, at 12 I could understand it, but now I dunno Mimi, it's a little childish don't you think?" Matt continued playfully.

"Stop teasing me! I mean would you want me to tease you?" Mimi asked, kinking an eye brow as a really devilish thought entered her head.

"Go ahead" Matt said, humoring her, he had no idea what she was really talking about.

"I mean what if I, oh I dunno…" Mimi trailed off getting off the bed.

"What are you doing?" Matt asked amusedly, laying his head against the head rest behind him.

"I mean if I started to tease you, like by doing something like this?" Mimi asked, stretching one leg over his abdomen as she comfortably seated herself on top of him, so that both of her legs were on either side of him.

Matt laid there shocked for a second, the grin completely falling of his face, he felt jerks of movement in his boxers. Mimi smiled triumphantly to herself, she knew she was about to win.

"Doesn't feel so nice does it? Makes things _harder_ doesn't it?" Mimi asked grinning, she knew he had caught on to her double meaning.

"Next time, you won't tease me will you?" Mimi asked, realizing that he wasn't the only one turned on.

"Mimi come on" Matt said quietly.

"Just tell me who won" Mimi said, smiling, she knew he was going to cave.

"All you have to say is, Mimi you're the best and I will never tease you again" Mimi said, her voice was low and had a seductive edge to it as she put a hand up his wife beater.

_Stop what you're doing! It's bad! You guys can't do this!_ A voice in Mimi's head screamed, which she readily ignored as she traced his well defined abs with her forefinger.

"You know what?" Matt said, a smirk appearing on his face.

"What?" Mimi asked, wondering why he was smirking, she was clearly in control.

"This" He said, grabbing her by the waist and in one swift movement, he was over her, his face inches away from hers.

"Not fair" She said softly.

"Yea?" Matt asked.

"You're cheating!" Mimi whined playfully.

"Because you weren't right" Matt said sarcastically, his voice was barely above a whisper. Mimi stared into his blue eyes, a look in them she hadn't seen in a long time, _lust,_ she realized right then he wanted her as bad as she wanted him. And when he leaned down to capture her lips in a soft yet passionate kiss, she returned it immediately.

Matt deepened their kiss, Mimi moved her hands up into his hair, tangling her fingers in his spiky blonde hair.

"This is going to get complicated" Matt whispered into her, kissing it.

"Just, for tonight please be with me" Mimi said, staring intently into his eyes.

And that was all he needed to hear, because if she had refused he knew he'd be in for one hell of a cold shower.

So maybe for tonight, they could pretend that there were no problems. They were the Matt and Mimi, pre-marital transgressions, and sure tomorrow the problems would come and maybe they would be harder to except, but tonight none of that mattered, the only thing that did was that they were together.

XiXiXiXi

Mimi woke up the next morning, the sun was shining brightly into the room, and for once, she looked over and saw Matt sleeping next to her. He was shirtless, he had a lazy arm draped over her lower stomach. She cuddled closer to him, as quiet as she could, because she knew that once he woke up they would have to leave and things would go back to the way they were. Mimi wished that things wouldn't go back to the way they were, she wished every night could be like the one they had shared previously, every morning she could wake up next to him, and oh god, his smell, the smell that was uniquely his, the scent she would look for in his old clothes and his pillow, the reason why she hasn't changed the sheets since he left.

"G'morning" Matt said sleepily, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her in closer to him.

"I've missed you so much" Mimi said inaudibly, pressing her face to his chest.

"What time is it?" He asked, his eyes were still closed, and his voice was lazy and raspy sounding.

"I don't know, um 7ish" Mimi answered, kissing his chest softly.

"Mmm, we should get up" Matt said stretching.

"Please, just not yet" Mimi whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Hey pretty girl" Matt smiled, putting an arm around her bare waist.

"Where are we now Matt?" Mimi asked uneasily.

"What do you mean? We're in my parents house" Matt said, kissing her forehead.

"No I mean where do we stand?" Mimi asked, clarifying her question.

"Oh I'm not sure" Matt said quietly, running a hand through his hair.

"Fine" Mimi sighed, moving to get up.

"No wait" Matt said, grabbing her arm.

"No forget it, it was the moment, things aren't any different, I am the stupidest girl alive to think that one night would change that" Mimi said coldly, she was trying to mask her tears.

"Please come back" Matt said, pulling her on top of him.

"Matt! Come on, I can't-

"You said you wanted to talk, that day in the car, let's do it then" Matt said, running a hand through hair long chestnut hair.

"Matt, I just never know how much I miss you until we're together, but it feels like you never miss me, so now I mean it's easier just staying away, keeping you at a distance" Mimi whispered, voicing her feelings for the first time in a very long time.

"Of course I miss you, there isn't a day that I don't" Matt told her honestly, touching her face softly.

"I didn't wanna go to sleep last night, you know, because I was so scared that you wouldn't be here in the morning, that I would wake up to an empty bed again, it just hurts" Mimi said, her voice was about above a whisper, tears began to leak out of her eyes.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you, I just don't know what to do" Matt said solemnly, he looked away from her remorsefully, he had nothing else to say.

"I promise I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, it's really how I feel" Mimi said softly, propping her chin on his chest.

"I appreciate that" Matt said, bowing his head slightly to kiss her hair.

"I mean I just really love you" Mimi mumbled, half of her hoping he didn't hear her.

"I love you too, pretty girl" Matt said, bringing her closer to kiss her lips.

"But you know as well as I do, that that's not enough" Mimi sighed sadly, once they broke apart.

"Look, if you want, we can try this counseling thing okay?" Matt said.

"Really?" Mimi asked, arching an eyebrow to make sure he's being serious.

"Yes" Matt nodded.

"Because I think it might help" Mimi said seriously.

"Alright, I mean, when we get back, we'll figure out what's going on" Matt suggested.

"You're gonna come by more often, I mean because the kids they miss you like crazy and I wouldn't mind you coming around either" Mimi said softly, tracing patterns on his chest, since she was only in her underwear, the flesh on flesh contact was getting to her.

"I, yea" Matt said.

"I'm glad-

Mimi was interrupted by a knock on the door and then the door opening.

"Guys we're gonna leave soon-

"Oh jeez!" Tai said, seeing Matt and Mimi vertical on the bed.

"Tai! Ever heard of privacy!" Mimi shrieked, rolling off Matt and pulling the covers over herself.

"Dude this is your mother's house!" Tai said, running out with his hands over his eyes.

"He's right" Mimi said embarrassedly.

"I hate Tai" Matt mumbled.

"Except he's your best friend" Mimi said sarcastically, throwing the covers out of herself and getting out of bed.

"So freakin sexy" Matt mumbled, watching Mimi search for her clothes in just her bra and underwear.

"Shouldn't you be getting up, instead of watching me, perv" Mimi winked.

"I can't, I feel like we're 17 again" Matt grinned, slowly walking behind her.

"Well we're not, and we've still got issues, major ones and even though last night was like amazingly great, and I'm talking amazing, there won't be repeat any time soon" Mimi stated clearly.

"Come on, not even like for a second?" Matt asked, kissing her neck softly.

"Go take a shower Fabio, you know as well as I do, when we're at it, it takes a whole lot longer than second" Mimi said, handing him a towel.

"You need to shower too" Matt pointed out.

"I swear to God, you need to be sex deprived more often" Mimi joked, grabbing a dress from her suitcase.

"This is all your fault" Matt whined.

"You're such a baby" Mimi sighed playfully, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Come on, in the shower with me" Matt said softly, pulling her into him.

"Do the words we're in your mother's house mean anything to you?" Mimi said, trying hard not giggle.

"I'm sure she heard last-

"No don't even say that!" Mimi said, putting her hands over her ears.

"Well-

"Mommy! Mommy!" They heard Mikey call from the other side of the door.

"One second Mike, go wake up your sisters!" Mimi called back, running into the bathroom.

Matt threw a shirt on and opened the door.

"What's wrong son?" Matt asked, kneeling down in front of him.

"Uncle Tk is askin when you plan on comin out, coz they wanna leave and granma won't let anyone leave until everyone has breakfast and we can't have breakfast until you and mom come down" Mikey explained quickly.

"Tell him okay and where are your sisters?" Matt asked.

"Rory is with Sam and Taylor and Sophie is sleepin" Mike said quickly, before running off.

Matt sighed, running a hand through his hair, he went back into the room, closing the door behind him. He knew how much of an asshole he had been, but there were certain reasons, reasons Mimi didn't know about, she couldn't know about. He had needed to stay away to save all of them a lot of hurt and pain. Last night reminded him how much he missed them all though, and painfully enough, he realized it was going to be 10x harder going back to that beach house today because once they leave, reality is going to set in again, they still are where they were and not much has changed.

Matt grabbed a pair of pants and button up T-shirt, his razor and shaving cream and his tooth brush. He knew Mimi always kept the door unlocked, partially because she would usually forget and partially because after they watched I Know What You Did Last Summer, the end scene where the chick gets killed in the bathroom, she's always to scared to lock the bathroom door.

He entered the steam filled bathroom, he actually locked the door behind him this time, wiping down the mirror with a towel.

"I thought you'd let me shower first!" Matt called.

"What are you doing?" Mimi asked, pulling the shower curtain slightly so that her face was peeking out from behind it.

"Shaving" Matt answered, looking at her from the mirror.

"What'd Mike want?" She asked, rinsing the shampoo from her hair.

"Tk and them are waiting for us on breakfast, everyone's dressed and down already by the way" Matt said grinning, he knew it would make her crazy.

"Oh my god! Great and you're all whatever about this! Ugh!" She said in her high pitched panic voice.

"Well, I mean who cares" Matt shrugged, putting shaving cream on his face.

"I do" Mimi protested, turning off the shower.

"I love you" Matt said randomly.

"What?" Mimi asked, with a giggle as she reached around for a towel.

"I said I love you, I feel like I don't say it enough" Matt said handing her the towel.

"Well you don't, I mean not me anyway" Mimi said truthfully, wrapping the towel around her upper body, so it hung loosely right above her thighs.

"And I love you too" She added, kissing his cheek.

"I like this" Matt said, grabbing the hem of her towel.

"What? Me semi naked?" Mimi asked playfully.

"No that for once, we're not fighting" Matt said, putting an arm around her waist.

"Me too" Mimi beamed, hugging him.

"I'm so sorry" Matt whispered.

"Let's not talk about it right now" Mimi sighed, putting her face in the crook of his neck.

"Now go in the shower, your mom probably hates me more now then she usually does" Mimi said, laughing.

"Okay, fine, but just know that this is going to be one cold shower" Matt said, with a small grin on his face.

"I'm sorry, but if I wanted to be really mean, I would've stepped out with no towel" Mimi winked, running out after planting the image in Matt's head.

-----------

Mimi slowly walked down the steps, not really wanting to reach the bottom, the anticipation of every single person having their eyes on her was actually killing her right now. She took a deep breath and walked into the dining room, where she saw her mother in law giving her the most spiteful look you could imagine.

"Mimi, kitchen, now" Sora said quickly, grabbing her arm and pulling her into the kitchen.

"Ouch Sora, I think you bruised my arm" Mimi said, rubbing her arm up and down.

"Okay so I know I told you to be nice, but Mimi, seriously all night?" Sora asked, laughing.

"Oh my god, Sora! Come on, let's not even-

"So details, was it good?" Sora asked.

"Uhm, hell yea, it was friggin amazing" Mimi grinned, grabbing a cookie.

"So that probably takes care of the "frustration"" Sora asked, cocking an eye brow.

"Yea, but Sor, we shouldn't have done it I mean me and him are still so incredibly dysfunctional, my temporary lapse of judgment is so gonna come back and bite me in the ass" Mimi sighed.

"Oh and one more thing Matt actually agreed to go to counseling" Mimi added.

"What?! Seriously? How'd you pull that off?" Sora asked, astounded.

"It actually wasn't hard, maybe he was just saying that or something" Mimi said.

"No when Matt says something he usually means it" Sora contradicted.

"I know, I just, Sora, what do I do?" Mimi whined.

"Nothing, I mean its fine" Sora said definitely.

"I'm just gonna miss him so much now and it sucks" Mimi complained ruefully, blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

"You're such a sap" Sora joked.

"I know" Mimi said, lightly banging her forehead on the counter.

"Now now honey, you'll get wrinkles on your forehead" Sora sad, lifting Mimi's face off the counter.

XiXiXiXiXiXi

A/n: Soo??? What'd you guys think? Good chapter? Bad? Too fast? I need feedback PLEASE!! I really need to know how this chapter especially was…coz I'm not that sure about it!! Thanks to all my regular reviewers you know who you are, you're all awesome yea…so please Review!!!!!


	5. Good day, bad day

"That was the longest car ride ever!" Rory complained as the five of them entered the house.

"Seriously, at least it's over" Mike chimed in, and if Sophie could formulate sentences she'd probably feel the same way.

"I know, now go brush, I'll be up in a minute to tuck you guys in" Mimi smiled, laying a sleeping Sophie on the couch for a moment, before heading towards Matt, who was standing in the middle of the room.

"Will you come too, Dad?" Rory asked from the top of the stairs, her bright blue eyes had a sense of hope in them.

"I, yea" Matt said, he couldn't disappoint his kids, especially not Rory.

"So…" Mimi trailed off uncomfortably.

"Yea" Matt said, running a hand through his hair.

"Not that bad?" Mimi asked.

"Definitely not that bad" Matt smiled, shoving his hands in his pockets, mostly because he knew if he didn't he'd want to reach out and touch her.

"Are you just saying that coz you got some last night?" Mimi asked playfully, raising an eyebrow.

"That was the highlight of my evening" Matt grinned.

"Ugh I really hate you" Mimi sighed.

"Why?" Matt asked genuinely.

"Coz, we did it, we weren't supposed to do it" Mimi said, slightly whining.

"Hey, if I recall correctly you were the one who came onto me" Matt laughed.

"I, just, hey" Mimi said, clearly flustered.

"That's besides the point!" She said quickly.

"Okay so what is the point?" Matt smirked.

"That, that, oh I don't know" Mimi sighed.

"I just don't want to go changing things, if this is like a onetime thing, because not only would it crush me but it would kill the kids, you know they're finally kinda getting used to the fact that we're separated and we aren't anywhere near together so I mean, you understand what I'm trying to say right?" Mimi said, recollecting herself.

"Yea I do, no I get it, it's just I believe that we can make this work" Matt said simply, scratching the back of his neck.

"It's not that I don't, I just know it's gonna take a lot of work and time" Mimi said honestly.

"And when things get hard Matt, you tend to walk out, you know disassociate yourself from the problem, I really, I mean you can't walk out on a marriage Matt you can't and you kind of did" Mimi added, looking up into his eyes.

"I thought we agreed, me leaving was for the best" Matt said.

"You agreed, I really didn't have a say" Mimi shrugged.

"What do you want me to say, I mean I'm sorry, but Mimi were things really better when we were living together, I mean we fought all the time, I've been through that Meems, I just didn't wanna put our kids through the same thing" Matt said seriously.

"I can understand that, I can, but at the same time, we were at a complete standstill and from three months ago till now, sleeping together is really the only progress we made, if you can call it that" Mimi replied, standing up from the couch.

"I love you, I mean that's all I can say" Matt said tiredly.

"I believe that, I mean I know you do, you can't be involved with someone for 8 years and not love them" Mimi said softly, walking closer to him until she was less than a foot away.

"I mean, I never stopped, it's just there were so many things Mimi and-

"I know" Mimi interrupted, wrapping her arms under his pocketed ones, and softly laying her head on his chest.

"I want there to be an us again" He whispered, kissing her hair, god he missed her.

"Me too, but it's gonna take time" Mimi said, looking up at him.

"And counseling" She added.

"I was hoping you would forget about that" Matt groaned.

"Come on please, you said-

"I know and I'm a man of my word" He smiled, leaning down to kiss her.

"Daddy!" A voice called from upstairs, they quickly broke apart.

"You know I was thinking about getting that tattoo removed after you left" Mimi said, with a giggle.

"The one of my name?" He asked.

"The only one I have" Mimi said rolling her eyes at him.

"I'm glad you didn't" Matt grinned, gathering Sophie into his arms.

"And how do you know I didn't" Mimi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because, I saw it last night" Matt said, grinning even wider.

"Did you think it was sexy?" Mimi asked playfully, following him up the stairs.

"Hell yea" Matt said, turning around to kiss her, but Mimi put her palm out.

"Hey" Matt pouted.

"Nope" Mimi giggled.

"You're mean" He said ruefully, kissing her fingertips.

"Stop" Mimi said, still giggling.

"You're being cute and it's hard for me not to ask you to stay if you be cute" Mimi said in a small voice.

"It's one of my attributes" Matt smirked, heading towards Sophie's room, as Mimi leaned against the doorframe.

"She's so pretty, my daughter" Mimi whispered, kissing Sophie's forehead.

"We make some pretty good looking kids" Matt said lightly, turning off the lamp.

"Yea we do" Mimi agreed softly.

Turning the baby monitor on, Mimi grabbed the other one as the two of them headed into Rory's room. Mikey and Rory were both sitting on Rory's bed, playing what looked to be a game of Go Fish.

"Have any sevens?" Rory asked.

"Ha! Go fish" Mikey said triumphantly.

"I used to kick your Dad's butt at this game" Mimi said, nudging Matt.

"And if I remember correctly, I kicked your butt at strip poker" Matt whispered in her ear.

"Daddy, does this mean you're coming back?" Rory asked casually, not taking her eyes off her cards.

"Well, not exactly…" Matt said, looking at Mimi for some help after noticing the disappointed looks on both their faces.

"Okay, Oh Rory why don't you show Daddy the trophy you won at the competition last Thursday" Mimi suggested, changing the subject.

"Okay" Rory sighed, getting up from her bed and going towards her dresser where a 2 and half foot trophy stood, on top of it were two golden pompoms signifying first place at a cheer competition.

"That's a nice trophy, I'm proud of you baby" Matt said honestly, kissing her forehead.

"Just wish you could've been there" Rory mumbled, putting it back up on her dresser.

"Rory you're being dumb" Mike said.

"Be quiet bedwetter" Rory shot back.

"Hey that only happened once!" Mike said madly.

"You still-

"Okay enough, no fighting, Mikey you shouldn't have called your sister dumb, Rory don't call him a bedwetter" Mimi said sternly.

"He/She started it" They said together.

"Come on you guys were playing so nice" Mimi said.

"Rory's always like this now, she used to be fun" Mikey said angrily, jumping off the bed and stalking out of them room.

"I'll go talk to him" Mimi said immediately.

"No wait-" Matt tried, he always found it much easier talking to boys than girls and right now he had an overwhelming feeling that this talk was going to make him feel really bad about his parenting skills.

"Hey baby girl-

"Look you don't have to talk to me I'm fine" Rory interrupted him.

"Rory, come on, let's just, just tell me what's bothering you" Matt said gently, taking a few steps closer to her.

"Nothing" She mumbled.

"I know you better then that Ror, come on tell me what's wrong-

"You don't know the first thing about me, you're never here, how would you!" She exclaimed.

"Rory, I know you're upset but-

"No Dad, I was upset when you didn't come to the book fair like you promised, or when you didn't come see me in the school play when you said you would, or last Thursday!" She half shouted.

"Rory you have to understand that-

"No Dad, I always understand, and I'm tired of understanding! I have Mommy and really that's all I need" She cried, tears lining her watery blue eyes.

"Rory, I…" He trailed off, at a loss for words.

"I love you Dad, and I always miss you, and I don't see you as much as I would like, but I don't expect anything from you anymore, it's just easier that way" She said, calming down.

Matt felt as though his heart had been crushed by a thousand ton brick, he himself found it a little hard not to cry, but for his daughter's sake held it in. He knew he had been distant, not present, but never once did he think that this was what it had come to. He hadn't been braced for this, he wasn't ready to hear all this, and he couldn't take it.

Mimi stood, rooted to her spot as she heard the outburst from her daughter, glancing inside the room, she made eye contact with Matt, and he gave her a cold guilty look.

"I knew things were bad but seriously Mimi, talking about me to my kids?" Matt asked incredulously, trying to whisper.

"What are you talking about?" Mimi asked fiercely.

"Rory, she did not get there on her own, you-

"Have you ever met your daughter? She can get anywhere on her own! She could get to the 5th dimension by herself! Last week she was helping the crossing guard across the street!" Mimi exclaimed, not even bothering to control her voice.

"I really can't even believe this right now" Matt said angrily.

"Can't believe what?" Mimi asked incredulously.

"You know what I'm done; you're just a dramatic bitch-

"And you're an asshole!" Mimi interrupted, hardly believing what he said.

"I'm leaving" Matt said, walking towards the stairs

"Don't walk out that door, Matt you're really good and walking out, so please don't do it!" Mimi half shouted, half pleaded, heavily breathing, she let a tear slip down her face, before quickly wiping it off. She turned the doorknob to her daughter's room.

"Is he gone?" She asked.

"Yea, but hey, let's talk" Mimi said, sitting on the bed next to Rory.

"It just, I didn't mean to freak out like that, it just was all building up and before I knew it I was yelling and crying and…" She said, looking away.

"I know sweets, you got the whole being emotional from me" Mimi said.

"But I'm usually not" Rory said seriously.

"And sometimes you need to be, because otherwise it just all builds up and you just have to let it out" Mimi smiled, running her fingers through her daughter's pale blonde hair.

"He hurt you Mom, he left" She said, with tears in her eyes.

"Yea he did, but your Dad is only human and so he's not perfect, we've all got our set of faults and he's no exception, I'm not saying he was right-

"Because he wasn't" She said honestly.

"I know angelface, but he's trying you know, so just try to cut him slack okay?" Mimi asked, kissing her nose.

"It's hard" Rory replied.

"That's never stopped you before" Mimi stated.

"I, okay Mom" She complied.

"Mmm, I love you hon" Mimi said, hugging her daughter tight.

"I love you too" Rory smiled, hugging her back.

XiXiXiXi

Matt opened the door to the dark, empty beach house that he had been inhabiting for the past 4 months. It hadn't changed, so all of a sudden why did it feel so much lonelier? He knew he had made a mistake, Mimi had nothing to do with what happened between him and his daughter, and he shouldn't have yelled at her like that. He really regretted it, especially since mere hours before they had actually taken a step in the right direction, they were communicating and now all that was pretty much down the drain because he fucked up.

"I'm the world's biggest dick" Matt sighed, sitting on the bed and running both hands through his hair.

XiXiXiXi

"Hey girlie what's going on?" Sora asked, over the phone.

"We fought, it was bad" Mimi said sadly.

"What?" Sora asked confusedly.

"Me and Matt, we just-

"Wait like 24 hours ago you guys were having hot sex and now-

"I know! It's like he was all like this is all your fault and I was-

"Hold on, start from the beginning, I'm talking you got home and then…" Sora trailed off.

"So we got home, everything is fine, actually everything was really good, me and him were talking like we used to you know, we discussed things after a really long time ya know?" Mimi said pausing for some feedback.

"Okay go on" Sora said, she had her shrink voice on.

"So he was all like I know we can work this out and I'm willing to do my best, so then I told him that he has the tendency to run when things get bad-

"Which he does" Sora agreed.

"Exactly, and I was like you can't run out on marriage you kinda did, and then he was like sorry and I was like it's okay, then we go to tuck Rory and Mikey in, and the two were playing Go fish-

"Cute" Sora added.

"Yea but then they got into a fight and Mikey said that Rory's not fun anymore so I told Matt I'd handle Mikey and he should talk to Rory-

"Good call" Sora said.

"I thought so, but then Rory, my calm, sweet tempered, practically perfect child, goes off on him, I'm talking Sora, screaming-

"Rory?" Sora asked disbelievingly.

"Yea at Matt" Mimi confirmed.

"What'd she say?" Sora asked.

"That he's never around, he doesn't have time for them anymore and basically that she doesn't need him anymore" Mimi explained.

"Oh my god, that's so unlike Rory" Sora gasped.

"I know and Sor, get this, he has the nerve to blame me for everything!" Mimi exclaimed.

"What!?" Sora said, clearly shocked.

"Yea, I know, then big surprise, he walked out on me" Mimi finished.

"He's a mess-

"Don't you dare defend him Sora" Mimi warned.

"I wasn't going to, he was definitely in the wrong here and I'm not going to tell you differently" Sora said honestly.

"Good" Mimi nodded.

"But-

"Oh I knew that was coming" Mimi sighed.

"At the same time, he obviously was really upset himself, and as wrong as he-

"Did I mention he called me a bitch?" Mimi interrupted impatiently.

"Oh, wow, well then…yea I'm at a loss" Sora said quietly.

"I just, I mean how do you say that to someone, I mean anyone, let alone your wife?" Mimi asked a bit sadly.

"I don't know what to tell you" Sora said seriously.

"I know, I gotta figure this out on my own huh?" Mimi half asked half said.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help" Sora apologized.

"No seriously thank you, venting was really helpful, you're always there for me" Mimi smiled.

"Awe honey, I love you and your drama is more entertaining than television" Sora joked.

"It's good to know you find amusement in this" Mimi said.

XiXiXiXi

A knock at the door, woke Matt up from the terrible sleep he was getting anyway. Stretching he slowly got out of bed, stifling a yawn on his way to the door. He had no idea who it could be but knew he wasn't pleased with them, he didn't feel like being bothered today, not with the events of the previous night still fresh in his mind.

"If this is a door to door salesman, I'm calling the-

"Aren't you happy to see me?" A woman interrupted, suddenly Matt realized that he was only in his boxers.

"Rachel, hi" He said awkwardly.

"I can feel the enthusiasm" She said sarcastically.

"No, I was just surprised, but come in, please I could use some company" Matt lied, running a hand through his hair, he actually wanted nothing more than to be alone, think for a while, figure out what he wanted and how he would get it.

"I'll just, wait, you know while you get decent" Rachel laughed, her green eyes shining with happiness.

"Right, yea I'll be back in five" Matt said, heading into his temporary bedroom. He didn't have a lot of things here, most of his possessions were at his real home. Aside from a closet full of clothes, his laptop and briefcase everything else was pretty much the same.

Pulling on a clean shirt and a pair of jeans, Matt headed out, he didn't really want to get into a long in depth conversation his relationship, or delve into memories of the past, and really all he wanted was to be by himself, solitude.

"Finally" Rachel said.

"Sorry" Matt said, half heartedly, sitting across from her.

"So you're probably wondering why I bothered you" Rachel said, grinning.

"No, it's great to see you Rach, whatever the reason is" Matt said with a fake smile on his face, Lie number two Ishida, you're on a role.

"Well I'll tell you anyway, it's to help you…" She trailed off.

"With?" Matt asked confusedly.

"Well you know I'm going to Law school right?" She asked.

"Yea I do, but what does that-

"I'm gonna tell you, I am going to help you draw up divorce papers" Rachel concluded, smiling happily.

"What?!" Matt exclaimed, disbelievingly.

"Come on Matt, you're unhappy, she's unhappy, everyone can tell, the charade is over and your mother sent me here-

"My mother!" He half yelled, barely comprehending.

"Yea, she said that you desperately needed an efficient yet quiet way to get your affairs in order-

"Affairs? I'm not dying!" Matt yelled.

"Hey don't shoot the messenger, you're mother asked me to do this as a favor to her and she said it was a favor to you too, and it's good for me because if I can put a person like your mother as a reference on my job application I'm guaranteed work for the rest of my life, so just make my day easier and tell me what exactly you wanna keep and what your custody requests are" Rachel said, her demeanor changed from happy and warm to impatient and slightly cold.

"Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you, I know it's not your fault, my mother is crazy" Matt apologized.

"It's fine, so I take it you don't want a divorce?" Rachel asked quietly.

"Not exactly" Matt sighed.

"That's fine but if you need a divorce lawyer-

"I know who to call" Matt smiled, this time it was sincere.

"Okay well, it was nice seeing you Matt, despite the circumstances" Rachel said, getting up.

"Well give me a hug, sorry for wasting your time" Matt said, a small polite smile on his face.

And just as Rachel leaned in to embrace him and just as he wrapped his arm around his waist, he heard a familiar voice call his name

"Matt I'm still really angry with you but-" Mimi stopped midsentence as she took in what was going on, she saw Matt holding Rachel in a more then friendly hug, the second Matt realized she was there, he released her but it was all that Mimi needed to see.

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A/N: So??? I know I got it up soon right? Well it was all your lovely reviews which spurned my writer's block to go inhabit someone else's brain!! Keep em coming, once again, I was kinda unsure about this one, it had a lot of things in one but….w/e, REVIEWS PLEASE!!!!! I love feedback!!


	6. session 1

Mimi stood frozen in her tracks, as if her feet were stuck in hardened cement. She didn't know what to make of the situation.

"I'll just…yea…bye Matt" Rachel said quickly, walking out extremely fast.

"Mimi, if we could just sit down, for like a second-

"Before you go giving me a weak ass explanation, followed by a dozen excuses can I just recap, we had the a huge fight just last night, I mean this for me, it was a big deal! I couldn't sleep because I thought about how much I missed you, and while you were clearly wrong, I should've stopped you from walking out that door! So here I am blaming myself for your mistake, and you're here with that woman from your mother's party doing God knows what-

"Mimi, I swear, nothing happened, she came over this morning" Matt interrupted.

"You know what, I don't care anymore, I'm done with this Matt, I mean this up down, good, bad, hot, cold relationship we have going, I'm tired of it! We're not in high school, we have three kids and this thing we're doing I can't be a part of it any more! It's too much!" Mimi cried.

"I'm sorry Mimi, I'm so sorry" Matt said bowing his head.

"If you're gonna hand out apologies this often you should buy them in bulk" Mimi spat.

"I don't know what else to say!" Matt exclaimed aggravatedly.

"There's nothing left to say Matt, I mean I'm just, I'm out" Mimi said.

"What does that even mean!?" Matt asked.

"It means Matt, I'll have the divorce papers drawn up as soon as I can" Mimi said quietly, looking up into his eyes for the first time.

"Come on, you're just mad right now, you don't mean it" Matt said gently, taking steps closer to her.

"No Matt, I do, and it hurts right now, to even be standing in the same room as you so I'm gonna go" Mimi said looking away, to shield the tears that had sprung up in her hazel eyes.

"Mimi just hold on a second…" Matt trailed off, trying to wrap his arms around her.

"Don't touch me; I can't even, just stay away from me!" Mimi exclaimed pushing him away.

"Mimi come on, baby, you know I didn't do anything, can't we just talk about this" Matt said desperately, he knew how much he had to loose now and he wasn't willing to risk it all.

"Matt, don't, I just don't know how we can be together, when there are so many problems, so why not just save us both some time and end it now" Mimi said, her tears leaking out.

"Please? Just I'll do anything, just reconsider" Matt said, his voice was barely above a whisper.

"Matt, can't you see that standing here just talking to you is killing me!" Mimi yelled.

"Fuck Mimi, what did I do?" Matt asked irritated now.

"Do you not remember last night?" Mimi asked incredulously.

"We can work through that!" Matt insisted.

"You know what, I can't even, not right now" Mimi said, turning away.

"Please Mimi, don't go like this! Please!" Matt pleaded.

"Kinda feels like Déjà vu huh?" Mimi asked dryly, through wet eyes, before slamming the door behind her.

XiXiXiXi

"I don't know what to do Kari" Matt sighed to his best friend.

"Well first off, apologize for being such a dick" Kari told him honestly.

"I hope my nephew didn't hear you say that" Matt mumbled.

"Haha, but seriously Matt, you have to stop screwing up!" Kari said.

"You act like I do it on purpose, I mean this thing with Rachel it wasn't my fault-

"But what about the fight? You called her a bitch" Kari cut in.

"I, but, I was mad!" Matt defended.

"C'mon, me and you both know you'll have to do better then that"

"I, maybe I should just give her the divorce" Matt sighed depressedly.

"You're hopeless!" Kari exclaimed.

"If you love her there is no reason why the two of you can't work it out, If you wanna take the easy way out fine by me, but you'll be cheating yourself in the end, you'll both be unhappy for the rest of your lives" Kari continued.

"What do I do Kar?" Matt asked.

"I can't really tell you, I mean but listen, Mimi gave me the number and address of the marriage counselor the two of you were supposed to see, go there and see if she comes" Kari suggested.

"And if she doesn't show up?" Matt asked skeptically.

"Then she doesn't, but it's worth a shot" Kari shrugged.

"I don't want to-

"Oh stop whining" Kari interrupted playfully.

"Do you really think this will work?" Matt asked.

"I don't know Matt, but I mean I think it's definitely worth a try, at least then you can prove to her and to yourself, that your willing to do whatever it takes, I mean if you're heart isn't in it-

"It is-

"Then go for it" Kari smiled.

"Thanks Kari, this helped" Matt said honestly.

"Anytime, I know we haven't been as close lately but-

"My fault as much as yours" Matt dismissed.

"It's been good talking to you again, biff" Kari said playfully.

"I hate it when you say that, it sounds so gay" Matt said disgustedly.

XiXiXiXi

"Another fight?" Sora asked, sitting on Mimi's bed.

Mimi nodded solemnly, covering her tear stricken face with a pillow. "He makes things ridiculously hard Sora, I love him and I don't, I wanna be with him and I don't"

"Meems you knew this wouldn't be easy, I mean no marriage is" Sora replied comfortingly, putting a hand on Mimi's leg.

"You and Tai seem to have the perfect marriage" was Mimi's muffled reply.

"Yea right, Mimi he's stubborn, pigheaded, a little dim and I'm no walk in the park myself, we're far from perfect, but it's the way you get passed these flaws that counts, how you deal with the other person's imperfections is what really defines a relationship, any relationship really"

"And you know what it may seem like an uphill battle right now, but I know you two can work this out, and once you do you'll see the struggling and the fighting was all worth it in the end" Sora finished, she knew what she was talking about.

"I, I guess" Mimi said unsurely.

"Tell you what Meems, you didn't cancel the appointment yet did you?" Sora asked.

"What for the whole counseling thing, no but I'm about to" Mimi answered, picking up her nail file from her side table.

"Well, don't, go to counseling Meems, just go, he might even show up" Sora urged.

"I'm gonna look like an idiot sitting in marriage counseling by myself" Mimi laughed, not taking Sora's suggestion seriously.

"I'm being serious Mimi, go you're appointment is in what…

"Half an hour" Mimi sighed.

"Go, I'm telling you, it'll help talking to a professional" Sora said.

"Sor, it's such short notice, I mean who am I gonna leave my kids with? I can't just-

"Um hello, am I chopped liver or something? I'm here I will totally watch them!" Sora exclaimed, cutting her off.

"Oh Sora, I just-

"Admit it Mimi, you're just scared" Sora said tauntingly.

"No, I'm not" Mimi said intensely.

"Then what do you have to loose?" Sora demanded.

"I, Sora!!" Mimi whined.

"Meems, come on, what don't you trust me-

"Sor, you know I'd trust you with my life" Mimi said immediately.

"Then, I mean, you have no problem, I mean Tay and Sam are already here so I wouldn't have to go home to get them or anything, Tai isn't coming home till nine so that doesn't matter, so you're kids are taken care off" Sora assured her.

"You sure?" Mimi asked, half hoping she'd say no so that she wouldn't have to go.

"Yes Meems, go take all the time you need" Sora smiled, hugging Mimi.

XiXiXiXi

Mimi parked her car, in the small 10 car parking lot, in front of the building, looking at the piece of paper on which she had scribbled down the address on; she double checked that she was at the right place, not wanting to walk in on a wedding ceremony or something. She grabbed her black Fendi bag, and took the car keys out of the ignition.

"I should not have let Sora rope me into this" Mimi mumbled to herself, opening the door.

She walked into a large waiting area, and a small desk behind a glass window, she rang the buzzer and waited for someone to assist her.

"Hello, my name is Kaylee how may I assist you" A blonde of about 21 asked in a bored tone, not even bothering to look up from her gossip magazine.

"Um, I have an appointment with Dr. Lacey" Mimi said, rolling her eyes.

"Third door on your left, she's expecting you" The girl said, sitting back down so that only the top of her head was visible.

Mimi walked through the double doors between the main office and the hallway, as she approached the door that was labeled Dr. Lacey Peterson; she took a deep breath and put her hand on the door knob. She was nervous and a little apprehensive, kinda worried too, coz she would have to explain why she scheduled a couple session when she was by herself.

Finally, she turned the handle and pushed the door open, walking in she took off her Dolce and Gabana sunglasses and let the door close behind her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was hoping you'd show up, I mean I wanted-

"Matt I don't wanna talk to you, I just, I can't" Mimi sighed.

"You're here, you can't just walk out, you scheduled this for us so come on, just sit down" Matt urged.

"I can not believe this" Mimi mumbled contemptuously, taking a seat next to him.

"Who are the kids with?" Matt asked.

"Their fairy god mother" Mimi said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Seriously Mimi, where are they?" Matt asked again.

"Oh my god, their with Sora" Mimi said exasperatedly.

"Is Rory still-

"Maybe I wasn't clear, I want as minimal conversation with you as possible" Mimi said icily.

"Oh come on Mimi, the thing with Rachel wasn't even that big of a deal" Matt argued.

"You really think that's what this is about?!" Mimi asked incredulously.

"Yes, I mean No, I mean, then what is it about?" Matt asked confusedly, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Oh my mother fu-

"Mimi and Matt Ishida, Ms.Peterson will see you now" The timid secretary said in a small voice.

With out uttering a single word, Mimi got up and walked in to the office, Matt was a few steps behind him. The therapist's office was spacious, it had a love seat, one of those shrink couch/bed things that you would see patients lay on in all the movies and a desk, where she was sitting, the therapist that is. Lacey Peterson, couldn't be older then 30, she was fairly pretty, dark brown hair, dark green eyes, and small framed black rimmed glasses.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Peterson, you can call me Lacey" She said warmly, looking up at them.

"Hello" Mimi greeted back.

"Please both of you have a seat, relax okay, pretend as if I'm not even in the room" She laughed.

Mimi and Matt sat down on the couch awkwardly, Mimi started to play with the hem of her shirt as Matt stared at the floor.

"Okay so, I can feel the tension here, anyone wanna start off?" Lacey asked, looking from Mimi to Matt then back to Mimi.

"What do you wanna know?" Mimi asked.

"Well why not start from the beginning?" She asked, grabbing a clipboard.

"You're analyzing us?" Matt asked disgustedly.

"Um, that's the point of therapy" Lacey said in a matter of factly tone.

"Right" Matt said quietly.

"Well, I mean a couple of months after we had our daughter Sophie-

"You're youngest?" She asked.

"Yeap, well he started, gradually becoming more distant, spending more time at work, going out more with the "guys" and just being kinda cold" Mimi started.

"And Matt, why was that?" Lacey asked, directing her attention towards Matt.

"I really wasn't trying, I mean I had work and is it a crime to go out like once or twice a month with my friends, I mean I'm freakin 25 not 50!" Matt defended.

"Hello! You have kids, and a wife! That should really be your first priority, and you know what I can understand the work part, but was partying essential I mean the hours you spent at the bar, couldn't you have spent with your family!" Mimi demanded furiously.

"Forgive me for not wanting to spend the limited time off that I have fighting! Because that's all we would do, fight!" Matt said semi sarcastically.

"Oh my God, you can not be serious, I seriously don't believe that you're trying to pin this on me!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Oh so what you think that this is all my fault?" Matt asked.

"Yes, I do" Mimi said indignantly.

"Like you're perfect? I mean, you always make me the bad guy, when I didn't even do much of anything!" Matt said, raising his voice slightly.

"That's right you didn't do anything! You never did anything!" Mimi yelled.

"Oh right, the house you live in, the millions of bags and shoes, the clothes in your closet, was all nothing right? And how about the car you drive and the-

"Take it all back! I don't need it! I have my own career and if you're gonna throw your money in my face then I don't want it!" Mimi spat.

"Okay now we're getting somewhere" Dr.Peterson sighed.

"Seriously? All we're doing is fighting! We do that at home too, so what the hell am I paying you for?" Matt lashed out.

"Shut up Matt, she's trying to help, you're just a jackass" Mimi said loudly.

"Like you're a magnanimous ray of sunshine yourself" Matt retorted.

"I can't even argue with you! You never take any responsibility for your mistakes!" Mimi screamed.

"Tell me what mistakes I made, just seriously enlighten me please!" Matt said out of frustration.

"You have got to be kidding me! You are an absent father, a sucky husband and you never listen to anyone!"

"Like you're so perfect! You're not a great mother yourself, borderline alcoholic and self absorbed!"

"You are the biggest jack ass I have ever met in my entire life! I hate everything about you! And you're a really big jerk!" Mimi finished childishly.

"And you're a narcissistic stuck up bitch!"

"Okay whoa enough! This isn't name calling 101! Now let's regroup and try to focus on the problem shall we?" Dr. Peterson interrupted, tired of all the yelling and screaming.

Both Mimi and Matt were breathing heavily, obviously really heated from the argument.

"Now, this has, for the most part, been productive, in the sense that you guys got all the bad blood out so to speak, not next session we can really work on the problem"

"Wait next session?" Matt asked.

"Surely, the two of you will be back Wednesday, counseling isn't a one day thing, it's not like a day of therapy will magically mend your relationship, I'm not a miracle worker here" Dr.Peterson said dryly.

"Don't worry, we'll be back" Mimi assured her, ignoring Matt's noise of protest.

"Good, see you Wednesday then" She smiled, dismissing them

------

A/N: So? How was it? Good? Bad? I don't know, I'm never sure of my ability lol, I'm just one of those people who underestimate themselves! I need reviews, you guys really help, a lot of you told me that you wanted me to update sooner and I really did try!!! So please review!!!!


	7. All over again

"How'd it go?" Sora asked, the minute Mimi walked in the door.

"Woah Sor, wanna give me a second to breath" Mimi said, rolling her eyes.

"Was it that bad?" Sora asked, a little hurt. Immediately Mimi felt bad for snapping at her, after all Sora had done Mimi a favor, counseling had been her idea, and Sora was right.

"Sorry about that Sora, I really didn't mean to do that, it's just been a stressful day"

"No, it's okay but I mean I just wanted to help"

"I know honey, I love you for that, I feel awful, come into my room, I'll tell you all about it" Mimi sighed, walking through the house.

"Where are the kids?" Mimi asked.

"Sophie's asleep, Tay and Mikey are playing some game and actually Rory and Sam were just here and I have no idea where they went" Sora said, looking around.

"Well it's Rory and Sammie how much trouble could they really get into, now if Mikey was MIA then I'd be worried, my son is a handful" Mimi said, laughing a little.

"Alright so, I mean it was basically a screaming match" Mimi explained, the two of them sitting on her bed.

"Really, like it wasn't productive at all?" Sora asked, a little surprised.

"Here's the thing, we were screaming at each other, using horrible words, but at the same time it felt good, like I can't really explain it, but it's like for once he was yelling back at me you know, instead of just leaving or just sighing or that stupid staring at the floor thing he does, he was responding, like for one he cared about what I was saying" Mimi told her, trying her best to get her feelings across.

"I guess I can kinda understand what you mean"

"It's hard to explain, we're so dysfunctional normal people can't really comprehend the progress" Mimi said, laughing dryly.

"All right Meems, I think it will get better, I mean really I believe it, but I've had thirteen phone calls from Tai so…" Sora trailed.

"Oh yea, totally, give me call Sor, thanks again by the way" Mimi smiled, hugging her.

"No problem, anytime Meems and we should definitely hang out tomorrow, go shopping or something" Sora suggested.

"Definitely, retail therapy always does wonders" Mimi agreed, walking down the steps.

"Taylor, Sam come on girls!" Sora called, zipping up her boots.

"Mommy, mommy do we have ta leave?" Taylor asked, Mikey following right behind her.

"Yes baby, it's 8:30, school tomorrow" Sora sighed, ruffling her dark red hair.

"Her Rory" Mimi greeted, as her oldest came in with Samantha.

"Hi Mom" Rory said.

"Sammie shoes honey" Sora said, helping Taylor with hers.

"Mom, me and Rory came up with the best idea" Sam started.

"Yea, it's a really great idea" Rory added, taking a queue from her best friend.

"Okay let's hear it" Sora said wearily.

"So, you know how we have break in like less then three days?" Samantha asked, directing her attention at the both of them.

"Yes…"

"So we were thinking, why don't we all go to, are you ready? DisneyLand!" Rory said excitedly.

"Oh no, we just went there 2 years ago, Rory come on" Mimi said, shaking her head.

"Mom come on, just think about it, all of us, me you, Mikey Sophie, Tay, Sam, Auntie Sora, Uncle Tai, even him" Rory said, rolling her eyes at the last part.

"Look Ror, I just don't know"

"Come on Mom, it'll be fun" Sam tried.

"Sammie, look I hate saying no, so I'll say maybe, a very small maybe, but I'll mention it to Daddy and Mimi will talk to Matt, and we'll see what's going on, don't get your hopes up"

"Yea, it's a long shot guys, but we'll see" Mimi sighed.

"Yes!" Rory and Sam said in unison, giving each other hi fives.

"Okay no hi fiving, that wasn't a yes" Mimi laughed.

"Alright Meems, I'll see you later" Sora said, ushering, Sam and Tay out of the door.

"Bye Sor" Mimi said, giving her a hug.

"So Mommy? What do you-

"Rory let me talk to your father okay?"

"Fine…but does he have to come?" Rory whined.

"He's still your Dad babe, he loves you, and it's killing him that you won't talk to him, so cut him some slack hmm?" Mimi said gently, kneeling in front of her.

"Yea Ror, Dad's doing the best he can" Mikey said, just wanting to put is two cents in.

"Whatever" Rory mumbled.

"All right, come on munchkins, it's past bed time" Mimi smiled, picking Mikey up and taking Rory's hand.

------

"I'm a dick man" Matt sighed to Tai, the two of them had met up at Tai's house.

"Well I knew that about you since we were about 9 but what's the reason this time?" Tai asked lightly.

"At that stupid therapy thing, we just ended up yelling at each other, I don't like yelling at her man, she's my fucking wife" Matt sighed, running a hand through his unruly blonde hair.

"Dude, you gotta think about that before you say something you know, you've always been hot headed-

Matt laughed at that, since it was coming from Tai.

"I know, I'm not one to talk, but hey I'm also not the one with the problem, so just swallow your pride and listen to me for a second"

"Fine, you know what, I'll humor you" Matt said, adding a laugh.

"Thing is man, you need to acknowledge that women, there's really not much arguing with them, they'll blame you if something goes wrong, if you don't tear up at the end of The Notebook they call you insensitive, and if you tell them they're being a little too emotional, well then it's the couch for the rest of the week-

"Tai if there is a point to this can you please get there a little quicker"

Tai ignored Matt and continued. "You need to just let things slide, if she's yelling at you don't yell back, it's that simple"

"When I don't say anything, it seems to get her madder" Matt said.

"It just looks that way but trust me" Tai said confidently.

"Does that actually work?" Matt asked interestedly.

"Oh yea, all the time, just let her wear herself out, usually when Sora's yelling I think about my days with Manchester United"

"Maybe" Matt shrugged.

"Would I steer you wrong?"

"Oh of course not, the ill fated road trip of 95-

"That was one time! I swear my directions have gotten way better since then!" Tai defended.

"Whatever, all I know is, we ended up spending Spring Break in Omaha, Nebraska, instead of Miami Florida"

"And you'll never let that go will you!" Tai exclaimed.

"No because instead of being judges at the hottest wet T-shirt contest ever and having front row seats to the newest Eminem concert, we were at the Omaha County Fair forced to judge a pie eating contest!"

"Speak for yourself, that pie was delicious" Tai laughed.

-----

"You know what sucks? Tomorrow's Valentine's Day" Mimi complained.

"I know, apparently Tai is like planning something really romantic" Sora told her.

"Yea rub it in my face why don't you" Mimi pouted, as the two of them walked around the mall.

"Come on Meems, it's not that big of a deal" Sora consoled.

"This is the first Valentine's Day in almost 8 years that I'm going to spend alone" Mimi said unhappily, covering Sophie's head with a hat.

"No!" Sophie exclaimed, throwing the pink hat on the floor.

"Come on Soph, just wear the hat" Mimi said, kneeling in front of the stroller.

"No" She said again.

"Boy she sure does love that word" Sora noted.

"You have no idea, everything is No these days" Mimi said, rolling her eyes.

"Funnily enough, that was Taylor's first word too"

"Mikey's was ball" Mimi laughed.

"Really?" Sora asked.

"Yea and Rory's first word was Daddy, Matt was ecstatic, I wasn't even there" Mimi said sadly.

"Where were-

"Paris, I missed so much for modeling, I really regret it sometimes" Mimi replied.

"Awe sweetie, there are always sacrifices involved in anything you do, if you didn't follow your dream then you would be regretting that now" Sora said honestly, rubbing her back.

"Yea, I guess, maybe" Mimi sighed.

"And hey she's only seven, she's got a lot of growing up to do still, so many firsts left, you're gonna be a part of all of them hmm? So don't sweat it, it's the past and there's really nothing you can do about it now anyway"

"I know I know, whatever let's just shop" Mimi responded.

-----

"Tai told me you were apparently an asshole again" Kari told Matt, sitting on his bed.

"He's got a way with words then" Matt said sarcastically.

"He also told me the brilliant advice he gave you" Kari continued.

"That was not half bad" Matt shrugged.

"Forget it-

"What?"

"Every word, forget everything he said, my brother, he's an idiot, never take advice from him NEVER, especially not on relationships" Kari said forcefully.

"But-

"Now, forget all of it now, purge yourself of his stupidity and do it fast, and next time he tells you something sing the Small World theme over and over in your head that way it won't settle in and you won't have to go through the purging process" Kari said seriously, as Matt laughed.

"You're crazy you know that"

"Now that we've got that settled, what are you doing for Mimi on Valentine's Day?" Kari asked.

"Um nothing, I'm the last person she wants to see" Matt replied.

"See now this is why Tai is your other best friend, you two are completely clue less" Kari said, rolling her eyes.

"You're mean today" Matt said playfully.

"I'll tell you what you're going to do, you're gonna call Mimi tonight, you're going to tell her you're picking her up at seven tomorrow and taking her somewhere special, it's a surprise"

"Why don't you just take her on the date for me" Matt said sarcastically.

"Anyway make sure that the date is the best night of her life, that'll show her that you still care" Kari continued, ignoring Matt.

"And you're so sure this will work?" Matt asked skeptically.

"Actually I am pretty sure it will work, mostly because I know Mimi, she's always been a romantic, this will be good for you guys" Kari said surely.

"I guess I could" Matt sighed.

"This reminds me of when we were around 15, and you had a crush on Sora-

"How does this remind you of that?" Matt asked confusedly.

"Do you remember how scared you were to ask her out?" Kari asked amusedly.

"Let's not-

"I mean Matt Ishida, the self proclaimed playboy, hottest guy in Laguna, was afraid" Kari continued.

"Oh well if I recall correctly, you were in love with Davis!" Matt shot back.

"For like a day" Kari defended.

"Try six months"

"Well, that, that was different" Kari argued poorly.

"Whatever you say Kar" Matt grinned.

"After you finally asked Sora out, which you practically yelled at the poor girl, 7 months later you cheated on her, with her best friend no less!" Kari exclaimed.

"That was dumb, I never wanted to hurt Sora" Matt said quietly.

"I know Matt" Kari smiled.

"Sora wouldn't talk to Mimi for so long" Matt said guiltily.

"Well the bright side is, now we can laugh about how high school it all was. I mean it was so One Tree Hill, classic Brooke-Peyton-Lucas triangle, I think Mimi even had her hair blonde then!" Kari said, laughing a little.

"But you know what, Sora really didn't deserve that at all, I mean I still feel bad, I mean I was a jerk then, a really big one too" Matt sighed.

"You redeemed yourself" Kari said honestly, putting an arm around him.

"Think so?"

"Sure" Kari nodded.

-----

"So I just got this call from Matt, saying how he wants to take me out today for V-day and I mean he basically blindsided me with this, I couldn't say no, so now I'm trying to figure out what to wear to this date that I don't even know if I wanna go on-

"Meems, it'll be fine, just wear that hot black dress, your killer, borderline hooker, stilettos, and act cool, everything else will be alright" Sora coached from over the phone.

"I'm sitting in my closet Sor, I'm freaking out and he's gonna be here in 25 minutes!"

"Relax Mimi, it's Matt, breathe, now take out the black knee length Versace, with the Minolo Blahniks, and the Fendi clutch" Sora told her.

"That's the perfect outfit" Mimi approved.

"So go on get dressed girl!"

A thousand and one things were running through Mimi's head as she stared at herself in the mirror, she knew she looked good. Her knee length dress showed just enough of her gorgeous legs, the V-neck gave just enough cleavage and the bare back looked sexy yet classy. She just hoped she wasn't over dressed as she pulled on her black knee length coat.

"Rory, is your baby sitter here yet?" Mimi called down the stairs.

"Yea" Rory answered.

The kids babysitter was a seventeen year old high school student, with dirty blonde hair and green eyes. Mikey and Sophie loved her, however Rory wasn't impressed, but she hardly ever was.

"Oh-M-Gee Mrs. I, you look hot!" She exclaimed.

"Thank you Jennifer" Mimi smiled.

"Jenn, Mrs. I, Jenn" She said.

"Right, well I should be back by 10-

"Take all the time you need, where's hot Daddy Matt anyway?" Jenn asked.

"So have the kids in bed by nine" Mimi continued, pulling on her six inch heels.

"Sure" Jenn nodded.

"Bye Mommy" Mikey said, running up to her and giving her a hug.

"Bye baby" Mimi smiled, kissing his forehead.

"Bye Rory, be good okay?" Mimi said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Bye Mom" Rory said, looking up from whatever book she was reading this week.

"Bye Sophie, Mommy loves you" Mimi laughed, dropping a kiss on her forehead as she heard Matt honking the horn from outside.

"Bye" She chirped, waiving vigorously.

"Keep an eye on the Jenn" Mimi instructed, walking towards the door.

"You got it"

Mimi took a deep breath as the cool California air braced her, she saw Matt waiting in his car, she wasn't sure what he was wearing but he looked hot anyway.

"Hi" She greeted.

"Hey, you look, well beautiful" He said shyly.

"Thanks, you too, I mean not beautiful obviously, you look um really nice" Mimi finished weakly, turning a dark shade of pink, thankfully the car was really dark so Matt didn't notice.

The car was silent, no radio, the only sound was Matt's fingers tapping on the steering wheel. Occasionally Mimi would clear her throat, just a nervous habit that she had.

"So? Um how's the thing?" Matt asked nervously.

"Kinda feels like the first date huh?" Mimi asked.

"I guess, a little" Matt shrugged.

"You would think after 8 years going on a date wouldn't be such a big deal"

"Guess it is"

"So where is this place you're taking me?" Mimi asked.

"It's well, that Italian place you love" Matt answered.

"Ohh, That's Amore! I love it there, so quiet, um romantic"

"I know, so I thought might as well take you somewhere you like" Matt smiled.

"Thanks Matt"

"Thanks for agreeing" Matt grinned, Mimi's heart fluttered and she felt her stomach do a back flip.

XiXiXiXi

A/N: So??? I'm gonna put the date in the next chapter for 2 reasons, (1) being that I don't wanna make this too long and the date rushed and (2) because I wanna keep you guys interested ;), so plzzz review!! I love everyone that does review, especially you Rachie!!


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